A Slow Flu Season Could Spell Trouble for Next Flu Season

Oy vey

We aren't in lockdown now, some minor restrictions only...one thing I've noticed is that, contrary to every other year, virtually no one in public is coughing, sneezing or blowing their nose. No one has the flu or a cold.

[quote]When scientists create a flu vaccine for the upcoming flu season, they look at the strains that are currently circulating and pay particularly close attention to the strains that dominated the southern hemisphere’s flu season as they typically denote what strains may dominate the northern hemisphere’s flu season.

Does the southern hemisphere not get a flu vaccine since they are used as the model to create the vaccine? Or, is it cyclical in that they then use the northern hemisphere's data to make one for the southern hemisphere in some viral round robin? Can someone explain how that works?

I really hope that in the future all sick people will wear a mask in public for the duration of their illness. We'd all be better off and people should be used to masks now.

[quote] A Slow Flu Season Could Spell Trouble for Next Flu Season

A Slow Flu Season Could Also NOT Spell Trouble for Next Flu Season

^^^^Especially if people continue to wear masks in the winter like they have in Asia for years.

I'll get a flu shot, don't care about those too stupid to take precautions. They are free, right?

Do any of you realize that exposure to pathogens is important in building overall immunity? Constant mask wearing does more harm than good in that regard.

So surgeons should wearing masks during surgery so their patients can build up their immunity to deadly bacteria?

IN with the good air, OUT with with the bad!! IN with the good air, OUT with with the bad!! IN with the good air, OUT with with the bad!! IN with the good air, OUT with with the bad!!

Do you realize you don't live in a sterile environment, R7, and you're exposed to pathogens by the score in and around your house, where you don't wear a mask?

[quote] Will this crap ever stop?

You mean life? No. It keeps throwing crap at you and it doesn't get easier.

I will be wearing masks from now on. It has been nice not getting the flu, sore throats, colds. Plus I just dread the next pandemic. There WILL be another one, imo.

Forgot one other thing: I just look so damn good in masks. 😁😁😁

Yep. haven’t had a cold since late 2019. I’ve gotten the flu vaccine every year for about the last 15. I had the awful Beijing-A flu in 93 and it nearly put me in the hospital and I was half my age.

Have no fear, R7, pathogens are still circulating. According to The Atlantic, "rhinoviruses, the main culprits behind the common cold, haven’t been stamped out to the same extent as the flu—a hardiness that could be attributed to their tough outer armor or an as-yet-unidentified quirk in how they spread among people."

^Thank GOD for that, we still have colds!! I was beginning to be worried that ALL diseases were coming to an end. Whew,

Haven't we had enough " doom and gloom" speculative articles? I'm waiting for the article warning that there might be more traffic accidents as people begin to drive more.

^I am CERTAIN that excessive mask-wearing is intensifying the rate of car accidents. I've been worried about it since last Spring, frankly.

Why would anyone wear a mask while driving?

I have beautiful lips and teeth. I’m so sick of covering them with a mask.

It'll stop when animal agriculture and habitat encroachment stop. It's all from animals - agriculture, bushmeat, etc.

If only people would just stop playing in bat shit, we'd all be a lot better off, that's what I think.

We'd also be a lot better off is so many people weren't batshit crazy.

R3 Typically a vaccine is developed for the N Hemisphere and another for the S Hemisphere, as there are distinct differences in the N vs S flu strains. This is due to flu being a predominant winter infection in the N Hemisphere, while in certain S Hemisphere locations, the flu is a year round phenomena.

Winter in the S hemisphere occurs during the N hemisphere's summer.

R7 stop spreading misinformation from your yoga teacher, dimwit

Could you get pregnant through a mask? Of course. So why can't you get Covid through cloth or paper? Viruses are a lot smaller than sperm.

"^I am CERTAIN that excessive mask-wearing is intensifying the rate of car accidents. I've been worried about it since last Spring, frankly."

"Why would anyone wear a mask while driving?"

Wow! Right over your heads.

I think it will stop only when we stop letting the media tell us what will and won't happen. They don't report the news anymore, they create, generate and exploit it--so that we don't have or want to.