1. A better frame: 1918 – 2019 was the century of Influenza A. This era opened with the 1918 pandemic. This represented Influenza A's epochal victory over prior viruses

Until 2019, most dominant seasonal respiratory viruses were flus descended somehow from that 1918 virus https://twitter.com/eugyppius1/status/1343881774905094144

2. We know that there were flu-like illnesses before 1918, but afaict, we have no clear idea what they were & no direct evidence that they were influenza

Maybe the "Era of Influenza A" was an anomaly. Maybe the whole century since then was mere aftershocks of 1918.

3. Besides 2020, 1918 is the only other viral revolution we know of, so it warrants study.

What we know of Influenza's victory in this year is strange & hard to explain. Most regions had 3 waves, the 2nd being the most fatal.

Here are flu deaths/thousand in the UK:

4. Why the virus receded and re-surged in this way is a problem. Some propose all waves were not the same pathogen. We only have sequenced H1N1 virus from the 2nd wave, & no clear information on whether 1st wave infections conferred immunity against 2nd.

5. Note that the 1st wave happened out of season, in the summer. In unfavourable conditions, Influenza A was defeated, but in the process, perhaps, he upset the prior viral ecology. When the winter came, the field was all his. He had no competitors.

6. An old point brought up by some Corona conspirators from the beginning, is the curious correlation – not always consistent! – between high flu vaxx rates & high corona mortality

You could speculate: Flu vaxx disturbed regional viral ecosystems & left things open for Corona

7. That theory doesn't explain 2nd wave mortality & is untenable. Corona's real battle with flu, I think, was invisible & fought in Nov/Dec 2019

We now know the virus was circulating in Italy mid-Nov, but it went wholly unnoticed. Hemmed in by influenza. https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/27/2/20-4632_article

8. Perhaps in late Fall 2019 the virus was elsewhere in Europe & America as well. Corona spent the better part of the 2019/20 flu season fighting with Influenza for access to our airways, and only broke through at the very end of it. Thus Corona appeared to arrive late.

9. Since 1918, we have fought our way to detente with influenza. We let him infect some people, and mostly look the other way. In return, he isn't too disruptive and never even approaches his 1918 mortality.

10. Public health policy, and substantial sectors of virology and epidemiology, have grown up within the arrangements of the influenza A world. The criminal overreaction to Corona is down to a lot of things, but part of it is simply a desire not to lose our Influenza A detente.

11. This is the health establishment effectively fighting rearguard action on behalf of Influenza A.

They are blind to two facts: Corona has already won a total victory. And she has offered us good terms.

12. Unlike the flu, she's not interested in kids at all. Paediatric influenza deaths are nowhere to be found this year, a powerful proof that influenza really is gone.

13. While mortality has been elevated, as is to be expected in the course of a pandemic viral revolution on the scale of Sars-Cov-2 stealing the show from Influenza A, there is no comparison to 2018.

14. As resistance develops w/in our populations, Corona has even suggested she will be rather less deadly than flu. What is more, she brings a mortality risk that proportionally scales with age. This means in Corona-world, nobody should behave any differently than they do already