[NautiNurse]

COVID-19 is not diagnosed without a positive test, and testing has been frugal in many locales. No way flu patients are tossed into the COVID-19 category to fluff stats.

In fact, it is suspected a substnatial number of patients diagnosed with influenza over the past two months:

1. tested negative for influeza A or B actually had COVID-19 before testing was available.

2. had both influenza and COVID-19. Once CoV testing was available, patients were positive for both CoV and influenza.

The epidemiologists are back-tracing serology tests to determine how many diagnosed influenza cases were actually CoV. This will take time.

[Salamander]

A FB friend and her whole family has been house quarantined for “COVID”, but not a single one has been actually tested.

Her doctor “diagnosed” them all based on “symptoms”.

They will not give the test to anyone in the family.

[cherry]

when we had H1N1 they tested for flu and if it was negative they tossed the patient into the H1N1 category....

also anecdotally, I had a patient, a youngish woman, who came in either January or early February....she could not get off of oxygen for the longest time....tested negative for flu...had a harsh cough....I just wonder now if she actually had covid..

[The Westerner]

See the USC health system study published today in my post #13 above. They tested everyone coming to urgent care and ER during day shifts in early March, 2020 for influenza, a respiratory illness and Sars2. Then compared several years stats of influenza cases. They discovered a significant drop in flu cases corresponding to the spread of this novel corona virus. Very short article with fascinating graphs.