How can these two statements both be right?

GLUE

Fri, Jan 29 2021, 10:41 am

Statement #1

There is less flu this year because people are masking and SD

Statement #2

Covid is not going away because not everyone is masking or SD

How can these statements both be right?

Last edited by GLUE on Sat, Jan 30 2021, 7:08 pm; edited 1 time in total

amother

Ginger

Fri, Jan 29 2021, 10:45 am

Easily, flu is not as contagious so we are making enough to slow the infection rate and its only around for a few months. COVID is significantly more contagious so we are not masking enough to slow its spread.

amother

Chocolate

Fri, Jan 29 2021, 11:08 am

The precautions that are being taken are enough to severely curb the flu due to it being so much less contagious than covid19.

miami85

Fri, Jan 29 2021, 11:15 am

I think the answer that no one wants to say is

1)Since people HAVE prior exposure to the flu, there is a better immune response even if you get it. Whereas since Covid is new, no one has antibodies until you get it.

2)There's a different level of transmission

3)There is the possibility that not everyone is getting tested at this point if they just have a mild case. When I had the flu a few years ago I never got tested--I just know everyone else had the flu so I assume I had it also.

4) In general people are putting in efforts to reduce infection, yet somehow I've had 3 colds since Covid started, go figure.

amother

Slateblue

Fri, Jan 29 2021, 11:42 am

My kids got just as sick this winter with all the colds/strep stuff etc... it doesn’t make sense. Why would colds be going around just as much but only the flu isn’t? Maybe it is most doctors around here test for covid and step but refuse to test for the flu....

bobeli

Fri, Jan 29 2021, 11:51 am

Definitely more croup and stomach virus this year. So the masking and other things not helping for less contagious virus.
Maybe less flu because they really pushed the vaccine this year, earlier vaccinations of more people. Or maybe inmune response to corona works for flu too.

miami85

Fri, Jan 29 2021, 11:52 am

amother [ Slateblue ] wrote:

That is also a possibility. I took my baby to the dr when she had fever, they tested her for covid but not flu--in the end it was neither.

yo'ma

Fri, Jan 29 2021, 12:20 pm

GLUE wrote:

Statement #1

There is less flu this year because people are masking and SD

Statement #2

Covid is not going away because ~~nobody~~ is masking or SD

How can these statements both be right?

Not everyone

Makes more sense now?

amother

Slategray

Fri, Jan 29 2021, 12:27 pm

Flu has not hit the US as a whole this year because of masking and distancing. However, communities that have a disease in them, be it flu, covid or croup, and aren't distancing continue to spread whatever disease is there. BH flu hasn't been brought into these communities yet.

amother

Jade

Fri, Jan 29 2021, 1:12 pm

amother [ Slategray ] wrote:

Yes, this. People assume that whatever they see in their own bubble is all that affects them. When the reality is that in a bad flu season it's much more generalized than your own community. If enough people are being cautious, we are much less likely to have a bad flu season. Even if in your own daled amos people are not being cautious.

There are also years that the dominant flu strain is more severe and/or contagious, and those are years that we see lots of flu cases. It's possible that this year we got lucky with a less severe and/or contagious flu strain being dominant. BH.

flowerpower

Fri, Jan 29 2021, 2:49 pm

Would love a good answer!

My take-
They are not testing for the flu
The flu comes up as positive for covid
Covid killed the flu
Now we need something to kill covid

amother

Coffee

Fri, Jan 29 2021, 3:00 pm

flowerpower wrote:

Would love a good answer!

My take-
They are not testing for the flu
The flu comes up as positive for covid
Covid killed the flu
Now we need something to kill covid

Covid test looks for covid DNA, so it’s unlikely that flu infection without covid infection would cause a positive covid test result.
I don’t think covid virus can kill flu virus. That doesn’t make any sense to me. The real answer is that flu is less contagious than covid. Masks and SD really prevent spread of flu very well. They prevent spread of covid but not as well as flu.

amother

Jade

Fri, Jan 29 2021, 3:36 pm

flowerpower wrote:

Would love a good answer!

My take-
They are not testing for the flu
The flu comes up as positive for covid
Covid killed the flu
Now we need something to kill covid

Doctors are certainly testing for flu, and patients are positive. BH it hasn't been widespread or severe (so far, may it continue). Flu and covid are different viruses and there has been no overlap in one showing up as positive for the other. It's possible for a virus to attack another virus, I wonder if this is being studied regarding flu and covid. I don't think I've seen anything.

boots

Sun, Jan 31 2021, 4:04 pm

It was explained to me like this:
Flu didn’t have enough time to build up and spread as usual because of the precautions that many are taking. Unfortunately COVID was too prevalent to make those measures affective enough to stop COVID.

If a small snowball is rolling down the hill then a few people can stop it whereas If it rolls for long without being stopped it picks up size and speed and will require many people to stop it. The larger the snowball and the more momentum it has the more people are required to stop it.

Flu this year was a small snowball, COVID a giant one which has been picking up size and speed for a long time.