DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Everything Else... Good News on Influenza Cases

I read that the reported Influenza cases are down 95% this year compared to this time last year. Last year was about normal to other years. This year, we are way down.

What a wonderful coincidence.

People stay home, flu cases go down. The same thing happened in the Southern Hemisphere during their flu season.

With so many people wearing masks and social distancing, I don't think that it's a coincidence.

So why is Covid spiking?

Because it's more highly contagious. It seems people wish to downplay just how much masks help and make a difference even though the experts keep saying otherwise.

COVID-19 More Contagious & Deadly than Flu

https://newsroom.osfhealthcare.org/covid-19-more-contagious--deadly-than-flu/

I find it amazing that now with over 225,000 dead American how many people have not better educated themselves about this virus.

.

I think it is because we don't have any immunity. We all have some degree of immunity towards the flu.

Masks are a band-aid, especially if you use the same mask more than once. Not much has been said about how to care for a mask. Things I have read say you can use it again if you don't touch the mask, store it in a tupperwear container when not in use...like people do that...lol

It’s how I mask for work actually. I’ve never touched my work N95s except for the initial use. From that point on I use a Tupperware big enough to hold it. To remove the mask I bring the open Tupperware to my face then pull the headbands of the mask over my head and over the bottom of the Tupperware. Then place the lid on it. To put it on I do the opposite... bringing the Tupperware to my face and then pulling the bands over my head.
My cloth masks I wear in socially distanced outdoor settings I treat differently. But still don’t touch the mask material itself. Only the bands. I wash them very regularly.
My N95 masks that I use for shopping and such I don’t use the Tupperware method. I just take them on and off with clean/sanitized hands. Only touching the bands, as possible. I only use them once before allowing them to sit for a few days before reuse.

You know, I don't really have the time today to inform those who have seemed to purposefully make themselves uninformed. But if you actually care enough to learn how long the virus lasts on surfaces, google it. Here's just a snippet to show you how to handle all cloth items....

What about coronavirus on my clothing and linens?

There’s still much to learn about COVID-19, but to date, there’s no evidence the virus can survive on clothing. However, health experts recommend following these tips if someone in your household has or is suspected of having COVID-19:

Wash and dry clothing and linens according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Use the warmest water setting to safely wash your items. Dry everything completely.

Wear disposable gloves when you handle dirty laundry from a sick person. Throw the gloves away when you’re done and wash your hands immediately. It’s OK to wash a sick person’s clothes with other people’s laundry.

Do not shake dirty laundry.

Clean and disinfect clothes hampers.

https://www.goodrx.com/blog/how-long-coronavirus-lives-surfaces-like-food-clothes-wood-glass-steel/

Yes, you can use a cloth mask over again. No, the virus does not live on forever on cloth.

There is a lot of information out there for anyone who cares enough to learn. Then there's the other option. Don't learn and just go around spreading something you heard.

The virus needs moisture to survive. Most things I've been reading say the virus can't live longer than 24 hours on cloth. So having a few masks and rotating them should work fine.

Don't you find that to be too much trouble to keep yourself and everyone around you safe?

I was addressing cloth masks to him. The type of mask most people not in your profession use.

I understand that you may do it that way.

My point is most others don't. You see them hanging from rear view mirrors all the time. The ones not there are probably sitting on the passenger seat.

I don't see most using cloth masks. Not to argue the percentages, but I see many using blue surgical masks.

That is what I use.

I have 2 cloth masks that I use sometimes, but I keep 30-40 of the "blue" cloth masks in a zip lock bag* as well.





*Hermetically sealed and kept in a jar on Funk and Wagnalls' front porch.

We saw the same thing months ago. Australia/New Zealand have their Winter when we are having our Summer. I recall hearing the same kinds of numbers about their Influenza infection rates back in July.

The medical evidence is pretty clear: masks help.

Not wearing a mask is suddenly growing again here. Even the stores with mandatory signs up are ignoring those who refuse to wear one. And I could swear we were under a public mask mandate in ohio.

To be clear, my post had nothing to do w/masks. I wear a mask everywhere I go. I don't know if they are really effective, but why take the chance? They sure as heck can't hurt. Let's just say I am skeptical of how things are being classified. My guess that influenza cases did not decrease that dramatically because people are staying home and wearing masks. My guess is that influenza cases are being classified as Covid cases.

Either you have it or you don't.

The death count may be inflated to some degree.

Maybe somebody knows...what are the chances of a otherwise healthy person who gets COVID passing away?

99 percent survive. Healthy or not. They don't want to talk about that, though. I think we all know why certain posters don't want to deal w/reality.

For someone who likes to complain about politics out of the political forum, you sure like bringing politics into threads and forums that aren’t politics.

Ignorance is complete bliss with some people.

I am not ignorant. And I am not going to get into a battle of trading insults w/you guys.

Y'all can take over this thread. I made my point. Not interested in talking to the likes of any of you.

You can talk percentages which is fine for your agenda but if you look at actual numbers the narrative changes. Sure 99% survival seems pretty good. But that means a 1% death rate. This country has ~330 million people. If everyone gets infected, with a 1% mortality rate, that is 3.3 million deaths in this country. I don't know if you are okay with that but i'm not.

And that isn't even counting the people who recover but have long term effects from the infection.

You are are either ignorant regarding this topic or you are completely ignoring the facts for some reason. Leaving this thread to not discuss with the likes of us is probably best, and tells us all we need to know.

Everyone isnt going to get infected. Thats a gross exageration.

There are 151K people living in my county and only about 20 new cases per day. It would take 75,000 days or 206 years for everyone in my county to become infected. Pretty sure there will be a vaccine before that happens.

Ummm, no it wouldn't. Infection rates compound like interest or go viral like something on social media under the right conditions... If the right idiots get infected and become super spreaders, the rate of spread is exponential.

I'm happy that your piece of the world is doing alright and 20 cases a day seems ok to you... but I wouldn't count on that rate staying predictably steady IMHO. An ounce of precaution is worth a pound of cure...

You and your little bubble . Of course your county applies to the whole country and the world. If half the population gets infected that is 1.5 million American deaths. 25% of the country infected that is 750.000.

There are already almost a quarter of a million deaths in this country.
What number is acceptable to you?

Yall can hide in your basements and cry giant snowflake tears.

The rest of us can do math and know the chance of getting infected is small and the chance of dying is even smaller. The math proves it.

The infection rate in my county is .0001 not 50%

We have no mask laws, the kids went back to school, and we were among the first to open our economy.

Your fear mongering is worthless.

I don't know what links you are referring too.
I don't doubt you have some.

What I do know is that is that in around 8 months almost 250,000 Americans have died from covid. You disagree because well you just don't believe it. How many people need to die before you take this seriously?

Nobody is saying not to take it seriously, or to not have precautions, but you are making up imaginary numbers for fear mongering. There is no way 100% or 50% or any other similar percentage of the country will be infected. To assert so and then assert x number of deaths as fact is ludicrous.

Lots of politics out of the political forum up in this thread.

No one is saying not to take it seriously? Have you read your posts and vers' and fish and throw's? Maybe you don't come out and say it but you guys certainly imply it.

And I never said everyone in this country would get infected. I used that as an example that 1% is not an insignificant amount. Which is why I followed it by the 50% number and the 15% number. That 15% is certainly not out of the realm of reasonable had if we could we not implemented mask wearing etc. With the way we are going, who knows what that number will be before a safe and effective vaccine is available.

The 250,000 deaths could be much smaller if we could have convinced 80%+ of the county to wear masks in public. The way we are going that number will be well over 300,00 by the end of the year and likely approaching 400,000.

I don't ignore the 1% death rate. But the actual number of covid deaths is way more important to me than the percentage.

You were throwing out death numbers based on 100% of the country being affected. That is completely unrealistic. You did it to scare people.

Like I said, the infection rate in my county is .0001

I recommend everyone go look up the infection rates in their own county.

And compare it to Jesters apocalypse numbers.

Cry wolf much?

One of us in here is a doc that specializes in this. Another one of us is a nurse who deals with this on a daily basis. The rest of us are all lay-people who lack any sort of expertise in medicine and health.

Another thread that is a wonderful case study in the Dunning-Kruger Effect.

I'm guessing certain people aren't happy to see Baker succeed, so they must go cause nonsense in other threads to get attention. A bit childish, honestly.

Some of us also went to school and can do basic math. Its not hard to look up factual numbers in charts.

And the so called Dr is claiming 100% of the country will be infected when the factual charts dont support that.

Just trying to illustrate that 1% is not an insignificant number.
Maybe I didn't do that the best way.
Maybe you are twisting it
Maybe a little (or a lot) of both.

You are lucky to be living in an area that has a low infection rate.
I hope it stays that way.
Many areas that had low rates during the spring have high rates now.
But just because your particular county is low that doesn't mean the rates in hte rest of the country ar low

You are misinterpreting me. I never said that 100% of the population would be infected.
I was trying to point out that while 1% is a small %, it is not an insignificant number.