Pay attention to the details here. Read this article, then come back and read our post about it, then read the article again.
Okay, have you read it? Good, let’s get into the interesting stuff!
You know how magicians fool us into believing they’re performing magic? It’s called “sleight-of-hand.” They get you to pay attention to one detail, while the important detail, the one that counts — that one is also right in front of your eyes, but the magician makes sure that you’re paying attention to something else.
So what’s happening in this article?
Well, influenza is a very specific virus, with hundreds of different strains, and the vaccines that target influenza cover at most 4 strains.
What they DON’T COVER: other viruses that cause the same exact symptoms, which are referred to as “flu-like illness.” Those viruses actually account for 70-80% of what has long been considered to be general “flu.”
Here’s the sleight-of-hand:“During the week ending Dec. 28 in the county, more than 80% of the 640 emergency department visits for flulike illness were people ages 0 to 24.” Did you catch that?
“During the week ending Dec. 28 in the county, more than 80% of the 640 emergency department visits for ***flulike illness*** were people ages 0 to 24.” So why did the Cuyahoga County Health Department release THAT statistic, instead of telling us:
1) how many cases of ACTUAL lab-confirmed influenza there were that week
2) how many of those cases were in individuals who had received flu shots this year (which obviously didn’t work)
3) what percentage of ER visits for “flulike illness” that week were confirmed by laboratory analysis to be influenza
4) what percentage of each group (flu and “flulike illness”) were vaccinated
5) what percentage of Cuyahoga County residents have been vaccinated for influenza
So now we are left wondering, how many readers of this article now believe that actual INFLUENZA caused 604 hospitalizations in a single week, with 80% under the age of 24, because that is — obviously, now that you’ve seen the sleight-of-hand — not true.