Horowitz: COVID-19 officially becomes this year’s flu

Based on the illegal, immoral and illogical responses to the virus by state governors, we will need to suspend civil and religious freedom, destroy children’s education, and crush the economy with every flu season. In fact, it seems that COVID-19 is this year’s version of the flu. And the idea that one can prevent the spread of this virus is just as illogical as the hypothesis that the suspension of democracy can stop the spread of the flu.

Of the many important data points that are not released to the public, perhaps the most important is the disappearance of the flu. As I noted at the end of October, the numbers are just remarkable, and now we have more data showing the flu is gone from what is normally the start of the new flu season.

According to the CDC’s “Flu Watch Report”, there were only 227 laboratory-confirmed influenza cases nationwide for the first five weeks of influenza season – from week 40 to week 44 ( ending October 31). Although it is still very early in the season, at this point last year there were already 2,851 confirmed positive cases. Phil Kerpen, president of American Commitment, calculated the five-year average through week 44 and found the numbers to be down about 90%.

The positivity rate is only 0.18%, compared to 2.68% last year. This means that the positivity rate so far is down 93% from last year, even though the number of flu tests has increased by 22%. So it’s not like we’ve forgotten the flu tests.

The implication of this cannot be overstated. The problem with a new outbreak is that it puts a strain on hospitals beyond the basic level of visits they face due to other ailments. However, if the flu is essentially gone this year, then COVID will be the only flu. Most pneumonia and other complications from influenza will not occur this year. So when they count the number of COVID-19 patients in hospitals and use that number as a pretext for panicking, fear and control, they don’t give you the total. net number of more patients in hospitals with respiratory viruses compared to other years.

The following map from the Kaiser Family Foundation is being circulated on the internet to spread panic across the country:

What they don’t realize is that this shows that COVID-19 is indeed this year’s flu. It is everywhere and replaces, but not in addition, the flu. This is the time of year when hospitals start to fill up. Also, the fact that it is happening everywhere shows that there is nothing you can do to stop its spread and that when the time for its seasonal spread is over, it will stop. Every state, regardless of its “mitigation strategies”, is affected. This includes the overwhelming majority of states that have universally respected mask mandates for months. As we can see from the map, our ability to stop this virus is no greater than our ability to stop a typical seasonal flu. So much for masks being better than vaccines.

The good news is that the overwhelming majority of those infected do not become clinically ill from the virus. Yes, there will be hot spots from places that were not initially saturated with the virus. Places like the Dakotas have barely been exposed for six months. The fact that they have more focus now is just the flip side of places like New York that had a ton of cases in the spring and fewer cases now. Yet, even in these places, how many are really in the hospital because they have trouble breathing because of a severe case of this virus?

North Dakota now has the highest per capita case rate. So, are hospitals really overrun? Unlike other states, the ND government breaks down the number of people hospitalized because of COVID vs. those in hospital due to other ailments with COVID (simply because they tested positive while they were already in the hospital). If you look at those who are actually hospitalized with COVID-19, they make up 15% of hospital beds.

Each area that has never been affected will suffer approximately 6 to 8 weeks of longer hospitalizations. But everywhere else, it will be on par with the flu season, given how normal flu is gone. Let’s not forget that 67,000 people are currently hospitalized with COVID (not all because of it), there were approximately 810,000 hospitalized with influenza during the 2017-2018 season. This means that this season’s peak in January 2018 was probably much worse than today. And hospitals did not receive $ 200 billion from the federal government to deal with the situation like they are doing today. They also didn’t test for the flu as much as they did for COVID.

“The 2017-2018 flu epidemic is sending people to hospitals and emergency care centers in every state, and medical centers are responding with extraordinary measures: asking staff to work overtime, installing triage tents, restrict visits from friends and family, and cancel elective surgeries, to name a few. “

These were the opening lines of a Time Magazine article published on January 18, 2018. No old story. Yes, it was a stressful time for healthcare workers, but the country as a whole was unaware of it and there were no disruptions in life ordered by the government, let alone a suspension of health workers. civil liberties. This will all change now… if we allow this to continue.