Flu season seems to be starting a little early this year. While that sentence doesn’t seem to be particularly alarming, you really don’t want an early flu season in any parts of the country. As far as infectious disease formulas go, early flu + Thanksgiving travel is not one that you want to try to combat. Particularly when the form of the dominant influenza virus seems particularly infectious. Speaking from personal experience, you don’t want to be on a plane with 2 or 3 people suffering flu symptoms. You’re going to be sick within 2 days.

This particular form of the flu virus, called H3N2 subclade K, has already caused massive outbreaks in the UK and Canada. So far, in the US, the majority of cases reported seem to be caused by H3N2, according to CDC surveillance. In the past, H3N2 flus cause more deaths and hospitalizations in older adults. CDC reports that flu cases are on the rise and although early in the season, they estimate that 650,000 people have already had the flu with around 7500 hospitalized and over 300 have died. Physicians are reporting seeing more influenza cases than normal in many areas of the country. The increase in cases and emergency room visits are occurring mostly in children. Last year 280 children in the US died from the flu, the deadliest season ever recorded for children, aside from the H1N1 pandemic in 2009-10. Thankfully, no pediatric deaths have been reported so far this year.

The H3N2 strain is known to mutate easily. The subclade K form popped up after the makeup of this season’s flu vaccine had been set. While research is ongoing to determine how well the vaccine matches up with the current circulating strains, people should still get the shot. Getting the shot will decrease the risk of severe illness for people who are infected. Get the shot.

As if the information above wasn’t sufficiently concerning, I believe that a much smaller proportion of the population will avail themselves of the flu vaccine this year. There are a number of reasons for that prediction, but all revolve around the large headed, worm brained Kennedy who is spreading his false, unsound theories about the dangers and ineffectiveness of vaccines. His pronouncements, combined with stacking the CDC and NIH expert vaccine panels with unaccomplished, foolish vaccine skeptics and conspiracy kooks, has caused a significant number of at-risk people to hesitate or even refuse various effective vaccines, including flu. Because of Trump and Kennedy, the websites of all Federal health agencies now contain alarming misinformation and outright lies. All of this now with the imprimatur of the leading US health agencies. The average person doesn’t know what is true about their health and how best to protect themselves anymore.

Looks like a rough flu season up ahead. I predict more hospitalizations and deaths than in a normal year, particularly among the elderly. Many of these adverse impacts will be realistically laid at the door of Big Head Bob and his monsters.

You can help yourself by getting vaccinated; avoiding large crowds or closely crowded places (particularly when the flu prevalence is high in your area); regular hand washing; and wearing a mask, if feasible, when you are out in the public (masks are particularly effective against the influenza virus).

Be good. Take care of each other. Happy Thanksgiving.

Post Notes

*President Trump interrupted his talk at the Saudi-US Investment Forum at the Kennedy Center to say this about his daughter Tiffany, concerning her graduation from Georgetown University Law School in 2020 (direct quote): “She finished right at the top and we were proud of you. And she was so proud and her graduation got canceled because of COVID – but I say if her name was something else, they probably wouldn’t of canceled it. They didn’t like that she did so well in school. They weren’t happy about it.”

These are the ravings of a lunatic. Every school cancelled everything in the spring of 2020. People were dying left and right. To believe that a prestigious university like Georgetown canceled their main graduation, their graduate school graduation, their medical school graduation, and their law school graduation to spite Tiffany Trump??? All those schools held online graduations and, to complete the picture, Tiffany graduated with a JD degree but did not earn cum laude honors, nor was she an Order of the Coif honoree (top 10%). Tiffany was also not named on a roster of students who were part of the school’s law reviews or legal journals. Everything this man says is either a lie, paranoid, or narcissistic. These rantings were all three at once.

*You have to think differently when you approach 70. I was heading to Starbucks yesterday when I looked down and realized that I was wearing my old “dog walking” sneakers. I was about to turn around to change when I realized, “You’re 70. No one cares what you’re wearing, on your feet or otherwise. They’ll mostly just be glad that you managed to have 2 shoes on.” I could go in there in sweats and mis-matched shoes and no one would blink an eye. The most that would happen would be: “See that guy in the corner with the wrong shoes on?” “Of course I see him. Don’t make eye contact. You get in conversations with these guys and the next thing we know he’s trying to get in the car with us. Just get your coffee. We’ll drink it out in the car. It’ll be safer.” At 70, I’m now that guy. This is sobering. Just a couple of years ago I was an ultra-fit 50 year old. Now, I’ve become the guy the wife has to warn the husband not to engage. So, what does all this mean? What penetrating insight have I arrived at after deep rumination about aging and society’s interaction with the aged?

I think I’m gonna start wearing sweats to Starbucks. What do I have to lose, right?