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By Paolo Becchi and Giovanni Zibordi
So far it has been impossible to find epidemiologists, virologists and other experts appearing on TV and in newspapers interested in talking about the amazing phenomenon of the disappearance of influenza e pneumonia annexed since the coronavirus. We have tried to mention it a couple of times in different articles, even if we do not see interest on the subject, and when in these days Dr. Melania Rizzoli, councilor of the Lombardy Region and authoritative signature of “Libero”, spoke about it we read it alive interest your opinion.
However, we were puzzled by the idea expressed that the fact that the flu and pneumonia have disappeared is not good news because it would make it more difficult to identify the strain for next year’s flu vaccine.
According to a study coordinated by Professor Ricciardi himself that we all see every day on TV, theinfluenza caused an average of 22,000 deaths between 2015 and 2019 in Italy with annual fluctuations from 8,000 to 40,000 deaths depending on the type of winter season and virus. May there have been fewer deaths this year because we were spared theseasonal flu it therefore seems to us good news in and of itself.
Dr. Rizzoli assigns credit for the disappearance ofinfluenza from February to lockdown. Contrary to the impression that our TVs give, in reality many countries in Asia, Europe and even many North American states have not applied it at all, leaving schools, bars, restaurants, stadiums, discos and playgrounds open. We live under the impression that the whole world is Europe as in 1900 when there were colonies and Europeans were 25% of the world population. We are actually 300 million people out of 7 billion. When something “happens in the world” for 90% it concerns other countries. For example, since April in all of East Asia practically no one is limited in going out in the evening, touring or traveling. There are 2 billion people in China and neighboring countries who have crowded squares, stadiums, restaurants and clubs this winter and the flu is not even detected by them. Ditto in Sweden or Belarus or Texas (which is mostly cold in winter) or Dakota (a state that has refused any restrictions). We are perhaps not well aware that many US states do not have lockdowns and do not require a mask. In states that govern Republicans like Florida or Texas or Dakota there have never been “masked men”.
But this phenomenon of the disappearance of influenza e pneumonia it has been detected by the WHO and the American CDC since last February throughout the planet, the Northern and Southern hemisphere. It concerns China or Japan and Korea (cold countries, especially China on the side of Beijing) also last February and North America and Northern Europe, which should now be in the middle of the traditional flu season. In short, if the influence disappears in Sweden or Texas or China or Japan which are “open” and in Italy or the UK which are “closed” it is obvious that the merit is not of the lockdown.
Second, Covid-19 swabs seem to indicate millions of people now contracting this coronavirus in spite of lockdowns and masks. It is not clear why other respiratory viruses that are transmitted in a similar way are even erased.
Both Covid-19 and normal flu viruses are “aerosols” so to speak as transmission, so if lockdowns and masks make one type disappear, it is not clear why the other spreads.
In conclusion, Dr. Rizzoli had the merit of raising a problem, but her explanations seem unsatisfactory to us. While waiting for more in-depth analyzes to resolve these obvious contradictions, we can meanwhile say that it is a good thing that hundreds of thousands of deaths from pneumonia and flu are avoided in the world this year.
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