Ever wondered why the flu went away? Now we know... it didn't go away... it got counted as Covid!!!

CDC Withdraws Use of PCR Test for COVID and Finally Admits the Test Can Not Differentiate Between the Flu and COVID Virus

By Jim Hoft
Published December 29, 2021 at 9:10am

HUGE. CDC Withdraws Use of PCR Test for COVID and Finally Admits the Test Can Not Differentiate Between the Flu and COVID Virus (thegatewaypundit.com)

FWIW

Oh great. So now people who thought they had Covid and now have immunities really had the flu? Some anyway.

I agree.

Some of them yes... but we'll never know how many for sure.

And one more thing, many who had a bad case of the flu now think that they have natural immunity, but then that too is totally unknown.

The CDC screwed the pooch over this one and now it's a total mess.

I guess they wanted to use the flu numbers to increase the Covid numbers to further their fear mongering.

Rumors that the PCR tests couldn't differentiate between the flu and Covid have been going around for 7 months or more but they dismissed it as conspiracy theory... and then all of a sudden... conspiracy theory becomes the truth... yet again!

FWIW

Is that a joke?  It’s a good idea if it’s planned.

What is normal?

LOL...

Good question. The old normal or new normal? (* SAD FROWN *)

I just think that everybody would like to go back to the 

1) Everything is open and you don't need vax passports. Including schools.

2) No need to wear masks.

3) Supply shortages would not be happening.

4) Gas and other inflated prices would go back to their previous cheaper levels again.

I think the above are what most people would consider "normal", but since we've all been through the mandates (vaccines & masks), lockdowns, partial closure of certain things/events/places, even after everything becomes as mentioned in 1) thru 4) above, I don't think it will ever really be the same again because of all the crap we've been going to for almost 2 years has some how forced us into accepting things we don't want to, but must, accept.

And so can we ever really get back to the "old" normal again? Hmmmm.....

FWIW

WALTER784 said:

but will we ever really be able to return back to the normal we all want to return to?

Nope. It's called entropy.

1. 1.

   Physics

   a thermodynamic quantity representing the unavailability of a system's thermal energy for conversion into mechanical work, often interpreted as the degree of disorder or randomness in the system.

   "the second law of thermodynamics says that entropy always increases with time"
2. 2.

   lack of order or predictability; gradual decline into disorder.

   "a marketplace where entropy reigns supreme"

Good analogy is to stand on a hilltop on a windy day with a feather pillow. Open the pillow and shake out the feathers. That is the easy part. The impossible (well, economically impractical) part is - go find all the feathers and put them back in the case.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entropy

I am not vaccinated, but I am not an anti-vaxxer in general.  I don't like how they developed this vaccine, it has moral complications for me, and so I won't do it.  

I do not wear a mask.  I have asthma and diabetes and high blood pressure and thyroid disease and mental health issues, where the wearing of a mask, by restricting my airway, even the thought of restricting my airway makes me panic.  When I panic my blood pressure rises.  When my blood pressure rises, I hyperventilate.  When I hyperventilate I get less oxygen and it may or may not trigger an asthma attack.  So wearing a mask is more likely to land my butt in the hospital ER where the Covid Cooties hang out.  

I also have trouble hearing.  I never realized how much I require watching people speak to understanding what they said until most folks started using masks.  Now I am lucky to hear 30% of what is going on, and most of the time I don't bother to continue saying, "Can you repeat that please."  

Struggling with depression and isolation is a lot worse when most of the folks you see are covering their facial expressions.  

So here is the question:  You want for me to wear a mask to protect you and others from the virus.  And if I do not wear a mask, you should be able to demand that I do, because it is for the good of you and me and others.  But if I were to ask you NOT to wear a mask to protect me from the problems with the masks that I have, would you do it?  Should I be able to demand that you NOT wear a mask because it makes me uncomfortable?    Most of us who do not wear masks are not demanding that others not wear them, but on the other side that is exactly what they are doing. 

Sorry if this was not the right thread for this, and it was not aimed at any individual.  

Generally if I see folks not wearing masks but it's outdoors or there is a lot of air volume per person and a pretty high air change rate, I don't worry because I also understand how droplets and particles travel through the air. If I can stay a good 8 to 10 feet away, then since I've been vaccinated, I figure the odds are good of not picking up enough of an initial viral load to get truly infected.

While theoretically a single virus can cause the full blown disease, it is believed it takes quite a few in the orders of a few thousand, to get a real foothold in most people's bodies. However the immune compromised are going to get quite sick from a much lower total exposure, and have a much higher probability of getting so sick it kills them.

But I also figure that being here in a deep red area of a red state, that many of those unmasked also are unvaccinated, so there is a much greater chance that they are totally vulnerable to getting sick from exposure.

Generally if I see people who are wearing masks or if I'm going into a less well ventilated area, with a high enough density of people, i'll pull one out of my pocket and put one on either to make the others less stressed and / or better fit in.

I figure those who legitimately have psychosomatic issues with masks are probably less than 1% of the population, which really isn't enough to move the needle much from a public health standpoint. As for actual air constriction, I've had allergy induced asthma all of my life in various levels of severity. So I'm used to wearing some kind of respiratory filter specifically to keep from inhaling assorted things I get allergic reactions to when that stuff is in season, or if I'm mowing or doing something that will stir up a bunch of airborne stuff.

So for me, actual air restriction is going to be orders of magnitude worse from bronchial spasms than there ever is from flow restrictions on a properly fitted (and clean) mask. It's like putting an air filter on a car engine. the actual barometric pressure drop is only a couple mm Hg even with the engine running at a fairly high throttle setting between the ambient atmosphere and the air intake just inside the air filter, if the system is properly designed

While the pressure drop is measureable, it's generally nowhere near enough to truly restrict one's ability to breathe. if one has that severe of a respiratory problem they probably need some kind of CPAP machine to help push air into their lungs anyway, or some kind of positive pressure SCBA apparatus.

The air delivered by such devices is very well filtered.

Then I have worn a full SCBA outfit on a few occasions where it was necessary to inspect something in the oil field where hydrogen sulfide gas is present or suspected present in dangerous concentrations. Generally today I think the limit is about 15 ppm to go around the stuff without proper personal protective equipment. If the mask is well sealed I'll leave it on demand regulation since the air tank lasts a lot longer. It isn't that hard to inhale although it's noticeable. The total pressure differential is a lot more, maybe 5 millibars or more, compared to the constriction difference through even an N95 mask.

The pressure drop standard for N95 face masks is 350 Pa at 85 liter per min (LPM) which if I did my math right is around 3.5 millibars. This is comparable to the pressure drop across an automotive air filter to a typical engine running at a typical load.

Generally though I try to avoid densely crowded situations with poor ventilation even before Covid.

I've also had to communicate with people in a high noise environment. Usually we'll write something down or even use text messaging, although some who work around loud machinery and have to wear hearing protection all the time have taught themselves sign language.