Super Flu? More Like Super Hype

 The BBC informs us that we have entered a ‘Super-Flu’ crisis, “unlike anything since the pandemic”. Other outlets scream that hospitals are facing a “worst case scenario”. Wes Streeting expands by telling us that a “tidal wave of flu” is tearing through them. Schools have closed pre-emptively, particularly in Wales. Some closures are to provide ‘firebreaks’, not because they have many cases. Leeds schoolchildren have been told not to sing in assembly. Shadowy ‘NHS Leaders’ advise the public to wear masks, with this recommendation shuffling-ly endorsed by the PM. Masking has been mandated at a few hospitals. Vaccination is being pushed, including of toddlers ‘to protect granny’.

It is all horribly reminiscent of 2020-21.

The actual statistics, published yesterday by the UKHSA and covering the period up to December 11th, therefore come as a surprise. They tell that “influenza activity [has] increased and [the virus] is circulating at ‘medium’ levels”, as confirmed by lab testing and GP surveillance.

‘Medium’ doesn’t feature widely in the Super-Flu headlines.

Yet it seems accurate. Figures 1-3, from the UKHSA’s report, illustrate GP consultations for influenza-like illness, then hospitalisations and then ICU/high dependency admissions for laboratory-confirmed influenza. A recent article in the Financial Times indicates that there were just 106 patients in intensive care with flu last week. I can find no mention of deaths...<<<Read More>>>...