The CDC is yelling about the “flu epidemic” already

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

As everyone gathers for the holidays with their loved ones, odds are more than one person will bring home a cold of some sort from their adorable 3 year old nephew or their aunt Sally. The CDC just loves to blame Thanksgiving travel for kicking off “flu season”.

Flu data through the CDC is always at least a week delayed. This is what was released last Friday November 17th. https://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/usmap.htm

They are in a tizzy with the high levels of flu down south. Flu season usually peaks in December, but this year its rising in mid November. They are clamoring for people to hurry up and get their flu shots NOW.

But here is the deal. These flu maps are the number of people who see a healthcare provider for any “influenza like illness” or ILI. I decided to pull up the state of Louisiana to show you how they skew this data.

This is Louisiana as reported on November 11th. Notice in the map above, they are in the “defcon 1” very high level of flu. But then look at this map. Out of the 8 zones they evaluate, 3 zones are minimal flu, 2 zones are low to low moderate. One zone didn’t report data (zone 5 is beiged out), and 1 zone is marked high moderate. 2 zones marked as the LOWEST level of high for “ILI”. Which just so happens to be THE MOST densely populated area New Orleans. None of the zones report the same color of concern that the national map does above. In fact, ILI is about 5.8% above what we see in non-flu months. Lab testing is 15% increased which just means we are testing people who are sick with ANYTHING respiratory for the flu. Notice they say hospitalization and mortality is up but they have zero numbers to back that up???? They do not say what the total number of people tested for flu is, so that 15% testing is 15% of what? You test 100 people and 15 are positive for flu then it’s a 15% positive flu test rate. Numbers matter.

Clicked on Mississippi and their page is a broken link. Cannot see any data.

Alabama is clocking a 2.86% positivity for “flu like illness”. Zero data about the flu itself. Flu like illness includes anything that is respiratory in nature. Yet THEY are in the “high” for flu category??? Again, how many people were seen for ILI? How many people are the 2.86%? 3 out of 100?

Good ol’ Georgia flat out calls it “ILI” rather than trying to suggest it’s the flu only. They earned a “high” score for flu because mostly age 24 and under saw a healthcare provider for a respiratory illness. You can see the numbers breakdown in the top right corner.

I tried to look at Missouri and they don’t even have any data out there. There is a spot for 2023-2024, but zero link to even click on. So they aren’t even tracking data as of November 11th.

See how they use the data to scare people into getting a flu vaccine?!?!?!

The CDC map is NOT AN INFLUENZA MAP. They deceive you into thinking this is actual influenza. It is not. The more you know.

Wishing you and yours a very happy day of giving thanks for our family, friends, health, and a brain with which to critically think with. I am thankful for all of you!