Regarding the flu: maybe all that masking and social distancing had an effect on the spread of viruses in general.
(Probably the biggest effect was people staying home when they felt sick instead of toughing it out. Also, not going to the doctor when they did get the flu might affect the stats.)
Fab, I think that given the financial incentives that were established within the medical profession for COVID diagnoses, anything that involved respiratory distress and malaise was given a COVID diagnosis. IOW, the normal cases and accompanying stats were subsumed within the larger body of partly ginned-up COVID stats.
That too, but it is not the only reason. My sister teaches preschool and noticed a huge drop in colds and flus when the social distancing and masking was enforced.
Regarding the flu: maybe all that masking and social distancing had an effect on the spread of viruses in general.
(Probably the biggest effect was people staying home when they felt sick instead of toughing it out. Also, not going to the doctor when they did get the flu might affect the stats.)
Fab, I think that given the financial incentives that were established within the medical profession for COVID diagnoses, anything that involved respiratory distress and malaise was given a COVID diagnosis. IOW, the normal cases and accompanying stats were subsumed within the larger body of partly ginned-up COVID stats.
That too, but it is not the only reason. My sister teaches preschool and noticed a huge drop in colds and flus when the social distancing and masking was enforced.