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No flu season anywhere in the world this year ...

304 replies

Dustyboots · 15/02/2021 23:50

Christina Pagel (alternative SAGE) has just said this on Newsnight. She says there's been no flu season anywhere in the world this year because of Covid restrictions etc

Does anyone else know whether this is the case?

She was suggesting that if we kept restrictions up we could eliminate Covid and in the future eliminate most things, therefore reducing deaths forever!

I think she's a bit potty.

OP posts:
Dee1975 · 19/02/2021 08:25

It would make sense I suppose because of restrictions. Although in our house we have all had, at some point, bad colds since the new year and what I would call ‘winter bugs’. Tested for Covid. All negative. No bloody idea how we managed to pick anything up!!

Dizzybet74 · 20/02/2021 13:19

Well I had wondered this as personally I haven't had the normal coughs and colds this season )& paid to have a flu jab). I asked my neighbour who is a nurse and she said no, it had been as normal.

Stolengoat · 20/02/2021 16:35

I would be happy to permanently keep social distancing, face masks and hand gel. Not lockdown though.

Fourleafclover93 · 20/02/2021 16:38

I'd imagine there's not been any cases of flu or deaths caused by flu because it will be getting diagnosed as covid.

There will be reduced numbers because of people getting flu vaccine, better hygiene, people wearing masks or using hand gel.

The flu will still exist

Lweji · 20/02/2021 19:19

I'd imagine there's not been any cases of flu or deaths caused by flu because it will be getting diagnosed as covid.
You might want to imagine less. Imagination often has very little to do with reality, as in this case.

Emeraldshamrock · 20/02/2021 21:22

A lot of flu cases have been attributed to Covid. An elderly neighbour tested negative for Covid, she was still diagnosed as having Covid
Every skeptic has a neighbour or a friends friend, or friends aunt or uncle who was misdiagnosed with Covid19 although they didn't have Covid19 just to bump numbers. 🤣 If I see these court cases come to light with evidence of medics falsely signing off a death certificate ill believe the neighbours aunties cousins son twice removed stories.

She might have had covid. The effects of covid

Emeraldshamrock · 20/02/2021 21:26

We've all had colds this year. I've never had flu.

Firstimer703 · 20/02/2021 21:31

If we keep restrictions up, surely we will see the population die out anyway because how will anyone meet & reproduce? I guess it's possible that we could have online dating and straight to marriage but would that happen in the (formerly) free world?

I'm sceptical that there has been no flu. I think it's been recorded as Covid.

Firstimer703 · 20/02/2021 21:32

And I would include deaths from suicide too. Loneliness kills. Destitution kills.

LoveHeartHug · 20/02/2021 21:39

I know covid this and covid that is bad news but this is a positive to come out from all this covid shit. I can't remember the last time I got a cold.

Lweji · 20/02/2021 21:43

I'm sceptical that there has been no flu. I think it's been recorded as Covid.

Based on?

Look for the flu monitoring done in Europe. They have been finding hardly any cases, despite testing.

I do wish people would look things up before making things up in their minds.

Lweji · 20/02/2021 21:45

If we keep restrictions up, surely we will see the population die out anyway because how will anyone meet & reproduce? I guess it's possible that we could have online dating and straight to marriage but would that happen in the (formerly) free world?
If my nephew has been able to find a girlfriend and be with her during the pandemic, as well as move countries, I'm sure the population will survive. Grin

scaevola · 20/02/2021 23:11

Just to cheer everyone up

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-56140270

'Russia detects first case of H5N8 bird flu in humans'

Perhaps they'll have something to work on for those predictions after all!

Theworldisfullofgs · 21/02/2021 10:13

Lweji

Sceptics of various kinds are why we are in the mess we're in. I wish there was wider understanding of the difference between scepticism and critical thinking.

Lweji · 21/02/2021 11:14

Yes!

RedcurrantPuff · 21/02/2021 11:49

@AIMummy

I think there's a lot less of everything at the moment e.g I've not had a cold sore outbreak in a year due to mask wearing protecting against strong sunlight and bitter winds. Also I've not heard of any headlice outbreaks in local schools in the last year. Or any local bedbug infestations. It's interesting.
I’ve had at least half a dozen cold sores since we had to wear masks and my son got nits when he went back to school last summer.
truthisalie · 21/02/2021 16:53

Have heard about headlice. Bedbug is a bit different thing. People don't carry it around on their bodies. Bedbugs sit in the mattresses or somewhere else in the room waiting for humans to suck on their blood.

Neron · 21/02/2021 17:49

I wonder how many norovirus or D&V bugs there have or haven't been in comparison to years pre pandemic. Have those numbers decreased.

AssassinatedBeauty · 21/02/2021 19:07

I posted a link earlier about norovirus and rotavirus being reported a lot less this year.

Desnol · 25/02/2021 13:52

You do get some twits on TV. Flu has not been eradicated.

The reason why incidence of flu appears to have plummeted is simply that the health services are no longer testing for the flu virus, all resources being diverted to testing for SARS-CoV-2.

Lockdowns do have an effect, and the incidence of flu will have dropped in lock-down countries, just like COVID-19. In countries which are not under lockdowns, and there are plenty of those, the flu virus will also be less prevalent, because a proportion of the population will also be shielding.

It's perfectly possible tor the same person to be infected with multiple viruses. Anyone with COVID-19 could also have the flu, or another type of the coronavirus, e.g. the common cold. But once you're tested for SARS-CoV-2, the medics won't test for anything else.

Another reason for the apparent "disappearance" of flu cases, is that people are at last taking sensible precautions, e.g. washing their hands, and taking plenty of Vitamin D, Vitamin C and Zinc, to keep their own immunity at it's highest potential.

There is an issue with the sensitivity of the SARS-Cov-2 PCR tests, it identifies the presence of even the lowest numbers of the virus captured on the nose swab, because the sample is then grown multiple times in the lab, doubling each cycle, as many as 35 cycles, (e.g. 2x2x2... 35 times, which is a very high number.) In a nose swab, these viruses could have come from your chest (if you have been infected by the coronavirus), or you could have just breathed it in earlier that day, but they haven't infected you yet. In fact, they might not infect you at all, depending on the strength of your immunity and how many viruses you have breathed in (a.k.a. viral load). But the PCR test doesn't know whether the viruses came from your chest or the ambient. If you're in the same household as someone who has become infected, you're very likely to have SARS-COV-2 on your nose swab, but it's by no means certain that you will become infected. But if the test detects these traces, then you will be deemed positive, whether you are infected or not.

So, even if you have the COVID-like symptoms and you test positive, it could be that you have the flu and not COVID-19. The health services simply don't test for all respiratory viruses. This isn't so good for identifying which flu strains are likely to be prevalent next year, so they might well inoculate us against the wrong flu strains next year.

Another thing that most people aren't aware of, is that after you've become infected by SARS-CoV-2 and then go on to develop the symptoms, by day 7 to 10, your immune system has killed off all the SARS-COV-2 viruses, and there are no live viruses left in your body. Instead, the body is full of viral debris, lots of dismembered particles of the virus, which also give a positive test result, even though you're no longer breathing out live viruses. Most people go on to recover quickly, but will be testing positive for weeks to come. Some will get very sick, some will end up in ICU and on ventilators and some will die. What most people don't realise is that they will be seriously ill and die not because of the viruses (which are dead by that stage), but because of the very strong immune reaction of our own bodies. Cytokine storm, for example, is caused by our own immune system, over-reacting to the virus and it's debris in our bodies. It's that which kills.

scaevola · 25/02/2021 14:24

The reason why incidence of flu appears to have plummeted is simply that the health services are no longer testing for the flu virus

This is simply not true. Sentinel testing has been carried out as normal. And the usual number crunching on GP contacts for ILIs has also been going on.

Lweji · 25/02/2021 14:28

@Desnol

Your post is full of errors and misconceptions.
You REALLY do not know what you're talking about and should not post pretending that you do.
People, just ignore that post.

Desnol · 25/02/2021 14:41

@Lweji
How rude! Do some research, before accusing others of "errors and misconceptions".
I might point you in the right direction if you identified the parts you disagree with.

CoffeeandCroissant · 25/02/2021 14:45

I agree with @Lweji (and was about to make the same point).

Lweji · 25/02/2021 14:50

[quote Desnol]@Lweji
How rude! Do some research, before accusing others of "errors and misconceptions".
I might point you in the right direction if you identified the parts you disagree with.[/quote]
I don't need to do research. Do you know why? Because I'm a researcher. My field is molecular biology and infectious diseases.

And I haven't pointed out which many bits were wrong because I'm fed up of doing so constantly to people who think they know a lot from very little knowledge they got from reading the occasional newspaper article.

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