Ask HN: Has anyone else been free of cold/flu symptoms since early 2020?

3 points·idatum··5 comments

The last time I was taken down by the flu -- no, not Covid -- was early January 2020. I have not had a sniffle, anything, since. I have no allergies.

What has changed that I don't get the "common cold" anymore?

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One flu virus lineage was possibly eradicated during Covid pandemic

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41579-021-00642-4

Everyone I know with kids has a wave of various mild cold/flu cases after we re-opened after the Covid pandemic. But after that initial wave last spring I don’t think I’ve been sick at all.

I’m going to guess that these viruses will come back in waves, that will kind off ebb and flow for while until there’s a new stable equilibrium, where we’re back to maybe having a cold once or twice a year (that was the norm for me at least), and you’ve just been lucky not to be hit by one yet.

Many people noticed that the common cold disappeared at the same rate at which COVID appeared.

Strange.

Very strange indeed.

You are right.

Possibly the measures were effective for flu but not Covid. Possibly flu cases were misreported as Covid Possibly Covid targeted/eliminated susceptible people to flu

Possibly a combination of the above

Maybe the measures taken to prevent Covid, masks, distancing, etc? Flu cases declined during Covid, maybe the flu is only now starting to make a comeback.

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