No flu cases this year

[godisney14]

Are people saying it's a conspiracy? And what would be the conspiracy? I swear I can't keep up with all the stuff people can come up with.

Yes, conspiracy theories about masks are still prevalent just as with vaccines. Don’t need to explain any of them. Google search easily shows a plenty.

 

[amylevan]

It’s not only the flu. I read an article yesterday on the absence of flu, RSV, and some other viruses this cold season, but oddly not the rhinovirus.

 

[godisney14]

My only fear is that while there are significantly less cases which is a good thing, there is also the idea that not having any germs, or virus or anything else introduced to our bodies we are not build immunities to certain lesser ailments. At some point do we deteriorate our immune systems to a point where even the most non consequential ailments can kill us?

This is an erroneous thinking. And, most importantly, our immune system does not deteriorate because it sees less foreign antigens.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Yes, conspiracy theories about masks are still prevalent just as with vaccines. Don’t need to explain any of them. Google search easily shows a plenty.

Well thank you for that very informative post....it was extremely helpful..

ETA: Sorry, I was actually looking for honest information not to be just told off.

 

[Heigh-Ho]

I think this is great news! They've been saying this hoping it was true like it was for other countries early on in the pandemic.

 

[SteveH]

@mefordis @yaya74
Our School District implemented a strong policy, basically if you send your sick kid this year they are out for 14 days. If you keep your kid home for a day to find it was just a toothache, or allergies, etc. they they were back at school the next day. I can't tell you how many kids used to come in with children's Tylenol in their system only to wear off and spike a fever by 10 or 11am. It took a few months but the parents finally figured out they can't play that game. I just hope they keep it up after this, no more of these games.

 

[jormom1030]

So why haven't we worn Masks every Flu Season and should we from now on?

We haven’t worn masks because they are HORRID!!!!!!!! I despise every minute of wearing them. I can’t wait for this nightmare of having to wear them to be over!

 

[elphaba91]

That was kind of expected. I think Australia noted similar things over their winter--something like an 80% reduction in flu cases due to more people working from home, distancing, and masking. As for masks, they are more effective on influenza than coronavirus as the influenza particles are larger.

In Victoria (where we had a really strict 4 month lockdown), we had under 5,000 flu cases this year - a reduction of 70,000! There were also massive reductions in other viruses like chickenpox, measles, gastro, etc.

 

[Heigh-Ho]

Yes, conspiracy theories about masks are still prevalent just as with vaccines. Don’t need to explain any of them. Google search easily shows a plenty.

You sound snarky there just a bit. Are you okay?

 

[Heigh-Ho]

People are finally keeping their kids home when they are sick, something they SHOULD have been doing all along. Now they are forced to do it. Yay! No one has had a cold in my family for almost a year because selfish jerks who used to send their kids to school with a snotty nose and cough are no longer allowed to do it.

I hope they continue to do temp checks and send kids home when they are coughing with a runny nose. One of the best things that have come from this whole thing.

Yes!

 

[mi*vida*loca]

People are finally keeping their kids home when they are sick, something they SHOULD have been doing all along. Now they are forced to do it. Yay! No one has had a cold in my family for almost a year because selfish jerks who used to send their kids to school with a snotty nose and cough are no longer allowed to do it.

I hope they continue to do temp checks and send kids home when they are coughing with a runny nose. One of the best things that have come from this whole thing.

Adults aren’t going to work sick either. I work in healthcare and people are always at work sick.

I don’t think people are selfish jerks for going to work or school sick. With some of these attendance policies at schools and work. People who don’t have insurance to run to a doctor every time their kid is out to get a note. What do we expect? Let’s hope places loosen up their rules after all this. Work places and school districts are the selfish ones.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Adults aren’t going to work sick either. I work in healthcare and people are always at work sick.

I don’t think people are selfish jerks for going to work or school sick. With some of these attendance policies at schools and work. People who don’t have insurance to run to a doctor every time their kid is out to get a note. What do we expect? Let’s hope places loosen up their rules after all this.

I think this is the case as well.

Heck my husband has now found more ways to work from home when he would have gone in. We had an ice/snow system come through and even though the roads were treated and all my husband decided "nah I'll just work from home today no need to get out in this" when before it would have never been a thought to stay home (and his work even as flexible would have still expected you to come in if you could) unless the weather was really really bad. He actually scared me as I went to start my coffee and he was coming out from the office to let me know he had stayed home

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I think this is the case as well.

Heck my husband has now found more ways to work from home when he would have gone in. We had an ice/snow system come through and even though the roads were treated and all my husband decided "nah I'll just work from home today no need to get out in this" when before it would have never been a thought to stay home (and his work even as flexible would have still expected you to come in if you could) unless the weather was really really bad. He actually scared me as I went to start my coffee and he was coming out from the office to let me know he had stayed home

I work for a hospital and once you hit your 5th call out for the year you start getting into disciplinary action. Even if your sick. Or your kid is sick. And again, we work around sick people, so it’s really not that many call outs for 12 months. So what do people do? Send their kid to school sick or come in sick because ya know, we all have bills to pay and can’t afford to lose our jobs.

ETA: my hospital stopped all work from home in June. They want us at work. If you are going to work from home it’s only for extenuating circumstances (covid exposure or covid positive) and it has to be approved by administration beforehand.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I work for a hospital and once you hit your 5th call out for the year you start getting into disciplinary action. Even if your sick. Or your kid is sick. And again, we work around sick people, so it’s really not that many call outs for 12 months. So what do people do? Send their kid to school sick or come in sick because ya know, we all have bills to pay and can’t afford to lose our jobs.

ETA: my hospital stopped all work from home in June. They want us at work. If you are going to work from home it’s only for extenuating circumstances (covid exposure or covid positive) and it has to be approved by administration beforehand.

I totally get it and I hope that places ease up on it I really do. When I was at the insurance company call center it always went against your performance unless you pre-planned PTO (PTO was to be used for everything including sickness), same day PTO usage whether available or not counted against you. Of course people went in for things. Performance played into PTO bids, in shift bids, in STIP (which was basically a bonus), into raises. A doctor's note was not accepted nor asked for because PTO was to be used for everything.

I caught bronchitis when I was under the initial probationary period of being hired and lost 2 days of pay. Came to find out many other people had come down with that and I hadn't really had that before. That building though was strongly suggested to being a sick building but it sure didn't help with their policy being what it was making a sick building even worse.

 

[DisneyDebbie]

I live in NYS with strict protocols since March. I work with kids and have always had a very healthy immune system. For some reason, this school year I’ve had 2 colds, a stomach bug, and somehow contracted a mild case of Covid.

 

[godisney14]

You sound snarky there just a bit. Are you okay?

Wasn’t trying to be snarky. Just stating it as is. There’s still a lot of people out there not wearing masks for silly and crazy reasons. (Unless these are all just fake reports online). Okay, vaccine maybe I can understand why there may be a fringe group, but not with masks. People in Asia, doctors all over, manufacturing workers, scientists, some blue collar jobs, everywhere all wear masks every day of their working lives.

 

[Heigh-Ho]

Wasn’t trying to be snarky. Just stating it as is. There’s still a lot of people out there not wearing masks for silly and crazy reasons. (Unless these are all just fake reports online). Okay, vaccine maybe I can understand why there may be a fringe group, but not with masks. People in Asia, doctors all over, manufacturing workers everywhere all wear masks every day.

Oh was thinking about your 'Don’t need to explain any of them. Google search easily shows a plenty.' Seemed overly whatever to a question that's the only reason I asked if you were okay but sounds like you weren't meaning rudely. Not disagreeing at all with your statement about so many people wearing them everyday, that is true without a doubt

 

[disykat]

Are people saying it's a conspiracy? And what would be the conspiracy? I swear I can't keep up with all the stuff people can come up with.

Yes, as many people are alluding to on this thread, they think other illnesses have "totally disappeared" because they are being called COVID to falsely inflate numbers of a disease they don't believe is a big deal. They think when death numbers etc. are finalized 2020 will not be any higher than any other year.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Yes, as many people are alluding to on this thread, they think other illnesses have "totally disappeared" because they are being called COVID to falsely inflate numbers of a disease they don't believe is a big deal.

After I typed that I went back and re-read the thread and wondered if they were speaking to a few posts I saw that did seem to be hinting at that when I paid more attention to them but decided to leave it out there in case it was something (or in addition to this thread) that was circulating around FB or some other social media too; thanks for responding Like I said I just can't seem to keep up. I say this as my husband and I are actively discussing conspiracy theories people come up with given some FB posts we've seen by family members in the last few days.

 

[kanne323]

I work in a children's hospital, in pediatric hematology/oncology. We do mask during particularly bad flu seasons (based on community spread of flu) and have flu season rules (no siblings in clinic or inpatient, only one parent in clinic, two caregivers inpatient, etc.)

I've heard many people say that it's a conspiracy or blame covid on flu or say that no one is sick with anything else- even some of the parents of my patients say these things, despite what they're seeing on a daily basis.

I can verify that we're seeing much less flu and RSV than we normally do, but it's still out there. Unfortunately, our gastro rate hasn't dropped as much, and we're also still seeing plenty of rhinovirus/enterovirus. Our inpatient units have been full or close to full- more appendicitis than usual, for some reason, and more injuries (right after schools went virtual in the spring, we had a sudden rush of mandible fractures due to scooter accidents.) I wish I could say we're seeing less cancer diagnoses than we normally do, but I can't; we're up a little bit from last year, which we kind of expected, because the childhood cancer rate has been trending upwards very slightly. Our hematology side is also busy, especially as we are seeing many children post-covid due to clots or clot risk, and we are following all of the children here diagnosed with post-covid MIS-C.