Now flu is going to be the next pandemic

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The world has gone mad. If the UK doesn't get this winter's flu vaccinated delivered then the flu is going to be a huge deal. The flu has been around for decades, most people have immunity to flu and most people survive flu compared to covid, yet it seems like the flu is going to be just as a threat to humanity this year as what covid has been. So, covid, move aside because it's now flu's time to shine. Back into lockdown we go this winter, because of flu.

What will it be next year? Shutting down society because of the common cold?

I think the government just loves spending billions on lockdowns and furloughing.

Nah, I think these new Covid variants are going to ramp things up.

Also, people who are properly masking and social distancing will have a very low chance of catching the flu =)
I haven't been sick at all since I caught Covid, it's been kind of nice.
(well, I mean, besides all the Long Haul stuff)

You too? I've had chronic bronchitis for the past 16 months (among things).

But, I hadn't had a cold or flu in the entire time I've masked up publicly.

That said I don't think it's far-fetched to assume that when influenza comes back that it's going to be more severe than usual, or to assume that COVID and influenza at once might potentially be really bad.

Although I'd imagine anti-mask+anti-vax people will likely bear the brunt of that situation.

People who got the COVID vax but don't like masking and don't take the flu seriously might be who ends up bearing the worst of the flu.

People who take the flu seriously but don't take COVID seriously might be able to dodge the flu because they trust that vaccine but still be at high risk for COVID.

Well here in the UK they only give flu vaccinations to vulnerable people and the elderly. I've never had a flu shot in my life. I only got the flu once in my life, and that was 2 years ago.

Why would you say this? AFAIK, it has no basis in reality. There is no fly pandemic on the horizen. Why get all worked up about it and spread irrational fears and anxiety to others over something that isn't even a real thing?

Because I keep hearing scary things on the news all the time. If there might not be flu shots in the UK this winter then the whole country will have to go into lockdown to save the elderly people from dying from flu.

Boris Johnson seems to think he can shut the country down as and when he fancies, forgetting that lockdown is the last 'solution' you want to do, because 2020 was the first national lockdown in the UK since WW2, but now it's lockdown threats all the time and they'll probably start putting the country in lockdown at any given thing now. No flu shots due to shortage of delivery drivers? Put the country in lockdown. Too many covid infections (but less deaths or hospitalisations?) Put the country in lockdown. Country now in a whopping trillions of pounds debt? Punish the UK citizens by kicking them out of their homes if they lost their jobs and can't afford to pay the rent and bills.

Why? In the U.S. everyone's supposed to get a flu vaccine in the fall (even if they don't, it's strongly suggested to). Even if most people are not personally vulnerable there's people who can't get vaccines and rely on other people to be vaccinated.

If flu is that serious then how come there's never been lockdowns from flu outbreaks? I've never known there to be a lockdown due to flu outbreaks. In fact I never heard of the word "lockdown" until March 2020, so it's obviously never happened in my life before 2020.

There kind of are, though. Schools, offices, etc. close all the time because of flu outbreaks. They're not on a bigger scale because the flu isn't as intense as COVID and there has been a vaccine for it for quite awhile, which keeps it relatively controlled. There actually were issues with outbreaks getting worse before COVID though due to anti-vaxxers not getting vaccinated.

Percentage-wise, about 5 times as many people die from COVID as die from the flu.

I don’t foresee lockdowns because of the flu.

We had the Hong Kong Flu in 1968—no lockdowns.

The Swine Flu. Many types of flu. No lockdowns.

I remember the Swine Flu. I thought that was going to become a huge, worrying global pandemic, as there were people dying from it or being hospitalised. But suddenly it just came to nothing, but I wasted a lot of energy stressing and fretting about it. I thought this covid thing was going to be the same at first. I just scoffed when it was first all mentioned on the news, and I told everyone that I wasn't going to stress over it because I thought it would just turn out to be nothing. But the one thing I didn't stress over DID turn out to be disaster.

in 1918 there were massive lockdowns for the Spanish flu.

Pandemics happen.

I don't think any country is going to lockdown for regular seasonal flu strains.

There hopefully isn't going to be a lockdown for flu but 20 to 50k people die from it every year. The immune system has a "memory", that gradually fades over time making weaker viruses like the flu worse the more time people avoid exposure to it. This theory isn't up for debate and has been a well known fact for generations that I don't really have the energy to debate with others especially in this subforum.

All I have to say is that people need to need to be very cautious of masks and social distancing now.

Seriously, it wasn't until very recently that I found out that flu was dangerous enough that everybody in the world had to be vaccinated every year. The only time places were shut down due to flu were some hospital wards, schools but only because of shortage of staff, and some care homes if the flu was going around. But nothing else was shut down and it never effected the economy, and during flu season nobody was asked to wear masks or social distancing (in fact before 2020 the wearing of masks in public here was very socially unacceptable and everyone would stare at you if you wore a mask, but I never thought about facemasks anyway).

And the flu vaccines only ever went to people aged over 60 and care workers (doctors, nurses, etc). Even young people with medical conditions didn't get the flu jab, although some may have if they asked.

No thanks, I really don't want to catch Covid again.

It’s true what Nades said….but COVID is a different animal.