The omens suggest it’s going to be a rough season.
Flu season is here — and early red flags suggest it’s on track to be very, very bad. The latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) Flu View report show extraordinarily high numbers of positive flu tests reported to the agency from labs around the US. As of November 5, nearly 14,000 positive flu tests had been reported, as shown in the orange line on the below chart. That’s more than 12 times the number reported at the same time in 2019 (shown in the black line).
Combined with COVID-19 and RSV, I’m anticipating a lot of hospitals are going to be clogged up, so don’t get sick for any reason. Just stay healthy. Vaccines will help.
You know what else would help? Masking. That seems to be a lost cause right now, unfortunately.
I always wear my N95 whenever I leave my apartment, and I don’t leave except for necessary shopping runs. (I’m not a particularly sociable person, so that’s OK.) I hardly ever see anyone else with a mask…maybe one or two others at the grocery store.
The mask doesn’t just protect me from you; it also protects you from me. That’s the bit that too few Americans get.
Oh, yes…PS: I’ve gotten all my shots so far, and it’s time now for my fifth Pfizer jab. Thanks for reminding me, PZ. You’ve done some good for the world with your post. 8-)
All the shots, all the boosters. Mask whenever in an enclosed public space, despite all the idiots running around unmasked as though everything is perfectly fine.
The past few years have turned me into even more of a misanthrope than I was already.
Vaxed, masked, and avoid crowds. The one bummer is I would like to play music at a jam party I’ve gone to for years. During the summer we played outside, so it was relatively safe, but now we…they…are playing inside. A dozen people in a small-ish room singing and playing (and no masks) during the year of three plagues…I just can’t bring myself to take that risk.
Had my flu shot a couple of months back, so I’m good.
Waiting to recover from the new bivalent Modera, which has a kick like a mule, before getting the flu shot.
I lost a day in the post-vaccine brain fog. The Better Half had to remind me what day it was for a few days.
Getting the combo flu and Covid booster would have been courting disaster. So, waiting a couple of weeks. Shouldn’t be that big a deal, I only go out masked w/KN95, still getting weird looks for it. What is with people? Are memories that short? Hardly see anyone wearing a mask inside.
Reading about Australia’s experience which helps predict our experience in the united states, we got our flu shots a month ago. We still wear a mask whenever we leave home (KN95). It provides many benefits. It prevents being infected by the maskless mouthbreathers. I prevents us from infecting anyone accidentally. It helps prevent allergies. It prevents unnecessary surveillance and facial recognition (from snoopy Amaz0n’s ring doorbell cameras, store facial recognition capable cameras, etc.).
Got the flu shot recently and the Covid booster . I wear my mask . Still got the flu🤷🏾♀️ Today’s my first day back at work
Forgot my mask a few times. Which is why I caught the flu. I normally still wear it and I’ve gotten used to the strange looks from maskless others.
Got the bivalent (5th shot) COVID vaccine around the beginning of October and this years flu shot at the same time. No reaction at all. Still wear mask to go places.
I got mine together with the Covid Booster. I was totally knackered for two days and on the third day, today, I still got a slightly elevated temperature in the afternoon. I hope the vaccine helps since nobody is wearing masks around here anymore.
Got my flu jab a few weeks back, Covid jab scheduled for this week, and TDaP some time after that.
Received the flu shot, COVID booster, and a Hep B shot all on the same day a few weeks ago. I was little under the weather for a few days after.
But… But the computer chip in the vaccine shot might interfere with the functioning of the chip you got in thr Covid shot. Or is that an advantage?
My wife and I wear our masks 100% but I see less than 1% of everyone else with a mask. I saw a guy today with a mask over his mouth with his nose out. I thought it was hilarious. He’s concerned enough to have a mask but uses it wrong.
Huh. Around here, there were very few people wearing masks during the summer, but over the last month or so there has been a noticeable upswing.
I got my bi-valent Covid shot and senior flu shot over a month ago. I leave a relatively clean kn-95 mask in the car and always put it on before opening the car door where people are present. Even masked I try to maintain social distancing. My job as a process chemist required me to be respirator certified yearly. The n-95 mask test involved wearing the mask while moving my head and talking while an aerosol containing a solution of a very bitter substance was sprayed near the mask. I always passed the test, and I can confirm the solution was bitter when one time after my test I got a taste of residual aerosol. PPE does work when used and worn properly.
Got a flu shot and Covid booster about a week ago.
Currently between flu, Covid, and RSV all our pediatric hospitals in Ontario are very close to collapse and our gutless premier is resolutely refusing to call for mandatory masks even if our epidemiologists and pediatricians are begging him to do so.
At least he is saying everyone should wear one so he’s not as batshit crazy as the new premier of Alberta.
Had covid in september, so I’m getting my next booster in december. Around here $(SPAWN) and I are usually the only people wearing masks.
Got the flu shot with the covid booster.
“You know what else would help? Masking.” Really? How do you know? Would anyone please point me to any randomized controlled trial that shows the benefits of masks vs no masks? Any study at all, anywhere in the world. And I mean a RCT, not anecdotes, theoretical thought experiments, observational studies, computer simulations, masked mannequins in a lab, etc.
@ Torcuato #20
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abi9069
Do you like this one? It was of special interest to me, given that I’m over 60.
If you try a bit of googling, like I did, you’ll find others. I’m always willing to look into things for myself, rather than issuing pointless challenges on the net.
OK, OK, my son and I both got Covid boosters and the flu jab over the last week.
You see what happens when you start bullying people? You get them to behave themselves.
@ 20 torcuato
Would anyone please point me to any randomized controlled trial
Do you realise how stupid you sound?