COVID-19 is the annual flu

Every winter, there is an epidemic of a new virus strain that infects the world. I has always been called the flu. This year it is called the coronavirus, or Wuhan virus, or Sars-Cov2, or COVID-19.

SciAm reports:

U.S. health officials are urging Americans to get their flu shots this year in the hopes of thwarting a winter “twindemic”—a situation in which both influenza and COVID-19 spread and sicken the public. But a new study suggests that there could be another key reason to get a flu jab this year: it might reduce your risk of COVID-19. The research, released as a preprint that has not yet been peer-reviewed, indicates that a flu vaccine against the influenza virus may also trigger the body to produce broad infection-fighting molecules that combat the pandemic-causing coronavirus.

The paper is in line with some other recent studies published in peer-reviewed journals that point to similar effects.

RT reports:

There has been a 98% plummet in flu infections this year, dispelling fears of a Covid and flu ‘twin-demic’ about which many had warned. Experts say we can thank masks and social distancing. But does this really add up?

Although there is no mass testing for flu as there is for Covid, the WHO says that surveillance of data from around the world shows flu rates collapsing everywhere. Australia essentially ‘skipped’ their flu season this year, with not a single case reported since July (their peak). In fact, flu has more or less vanished throughout the Southern Hemisphere, and early indicators suggest it will follow suit north of the equator. What can explain this unprecedented decline? ...

The scientific establishment is quickly forming ranks behind the theory that the flu has gone away because of Covid restrictions – especially masks, social distancing and lockdowns. They “overwhelmingly agree” that this is so; their certainty is remarkable at this early stage.

So the flu has somehow been miraculously eradicated, and replaced by a similar disease?

You are probably going to say that COVID-19 is not similar, because it is so much more deadly. But it is not more deadly in the under-age-50 population.

About every ten years or so, the winter flu strain is more deadly than usual. COVID-19 happens to be particularly deadly to obese diabetic nursing home residents.

The Great Barrington Declaration proposes a compromise in which low-risk people live normal lives. It is funny to see this attacked as unscientific by those who really just have policy disagreements. If you are a healthy person under age 50, then you would be much better off without all the lockdowns.