this was some what discussed in the one of the 2020 covid threads.
a statistics graph from the CDC was posted; it was noticed that there was something odd about it. it was noted that the numbers for flu and pneumonia were way down; covid way up.
it was speculated that the hospitals were cooking the numbers by merging flu and pneumonia numbers as covid just to get some govt. money. this was early on during the lock down.
its my understanding that the introduction of a new disease do not cause a decline of another disease.
Originally Posted by dilbert firestorm
The flu is not as easily transmitted as Covid so the simple wearing of masks and social distancing is believed to have drastically lowered the number of flu cases during Covid.
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Precautions taken to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, including wearing masks and distancing, are likely the major reason for a steep decline of flu cases in the U.S., according to experts.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently reported that it had logged 1,316 positive flu cases in its surveillance network between September 2020 and the end of January 2021. During that same period last year, the CDC had recorded nearly 130,000 cases.
Stephen Kissler, a research fellow in the Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said in a February 11, 2021 Vox article that while more people received a flu vaccine this year, the sharp drop in cases was probably largely driven by mask-wearing and distancing. Kissler suggested that wearing masks in the future could be an effective way of helping control flu outbreaks. “Wearing masks in the wintertime, I think it’s something that might be here to stay,” he said."
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/hs...d-19-pandemic/