Quote:
Originally Posted by binaryhermit
I mean, the number of lab-confirmed flu cases is way down as well as the positivity rate going from a typical 30% to more like 0.1% so it seems that the number of (at least severe) flu cases is way down.
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Another possible contributing reason is that many people flock to the ER during normal times. For some of the most minor things sometimes (like a minor case of the flu or even a head cold). During the covid peak, many were avoiding hospitals like the plague, as they were viewed as "covid central" and nobody wanted any part of that. So there was probably a certain contingency of people that would have normally flocked to the ER that did not materialize this year. So they weren't tested for flu, and thus the flu numbers came down. I don't think this factor would be the primary one, but still possibly a contributing factor to the decline in flu reports.
So we have mask use, hesitancy to go to the hospital, staying at home and avoiding other people, mis-characterization of the cause of death and probably a multitude of others factors that contributed to the decline in reported flu cases. There were a whole lot of behaviors and data collection/reporting that were different from normal during this last year. I think they all contributed.