Ty for sharing.

Definitely not Covid - good old fashioned flu.

I am getting over my very first round of COVID, ever. I am sure glad I had five years of vaccinations and an antiviral to depend on. Without those, I think I would have been a goner.

I am still masking, gloved, and distancing. Which is probably a good thing considering what I have heard about the flu this year.

Has treated me like the early days of Covid since Nov. HE doesn't go anywhere without a mask.

He's a dual citizen and gets health alerts from the Italian Embassy. If we went somewhere when family was over from Germany and Italy? Everyone was masked. They did 8 hour flights masked.

I Don't think our Government is telling us the truth. Never thought I'd be one of "those people" - but here I am.

I didn't get Covid until March 2023. My husband has never had it. So he's sleeping in one of the guest rooms and we are texting each other.

tRUMP admin. is lying every minute about one thing or the other. Stay healthy!

They guessed wrong for the specific flu variant, but what they have does provide sufficient immunity to help mitigate the worst aspects of this variant. Ie, you will get sick, but it significantly decreases the chance of death and/or long term illness.

Thanks for this info. Mr. B and I get vaxxed every year, and this year is no exception. We both had some kind of crud in early December, but it was pretty mild and we both came through it okay. Hope our luck holds!

Laid her low for a week.
I kept thinking I’d catch it … but didn’t.
I got the vaccine. She didn’t. So there’s that.

As some random person out here thinking thoughts, as I have gotten vaccinations year after year. I have wondered if there is another component to vaccinations. Sure, they teach an immune system to recognize a specific threat, but couldn’t it also be “teaching” the immune system over time how to respond when confronted with a class of threat.

not fully protecting against the type A flu, but it is making it not as bad as it would be from what I have read.

They are still pushing vaccinations based on the severity this year, but I've seen no evidence that a vaccination which doesn't protect against a particular strain of the flu somehow lessens the severity of that strain.

Lots of weasel words. Lots of generalities based on across the board statistics for all strains of influenza. But I haven't seen a study which suggests an unprotected strain is made less severe by an unmatched vaccine.

ETA: My daughter is now 4 weeks in and still coughing. Her doctor ordered her to the ER at 3 weeks. She tested positive for it. (Immune compromised, so her bout was likely worse than many.)

But they get overly positive PR, as we're seeing here.

They are looking at the strains last year, and those in the southern hemisphere 6 months ago (their flu season) to predict what might be coming around. They haven't had a better than 50% match since 2013 (if I recall correctly).

That said, there probably isn't a better way until we start regularly using mRNA vaccinations that might be adaptable more quickly to the current strains.

When she had autoimmune diseases that weren't treated with immune suppressants, she rarely had a viral infection, and when she did it was really light. Now that she's on infusions to suppress her immune system the landscape has changed.

But you do you.

Beyond that I don't have specific memory, but it has been around the same frequency my entire life. Neither my mother, nor my grandmother (who survived the 1918 influenza epidemic) have ever gotten the flu.

it was a piece of cake compared to a full blown flu.

I had my flu shot so

In a way, he did himself in. No vax & refused repeated offers to take him to dr. Sad.

Just got another text. He was not vaxed.

His friend was in his 40's, I'm guessing, and not vaxed, but that 16 yr old girl is terrifying.

They guessed wrong this year. So the flu vaccine we got in September was not aimed at this strain and is only 40-60% effective agsinst it. I can’t remember the exact %

I have read it was because their stronger immune systems overreacted.

How awful

I grew up with this margarine commercial:
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what made that pandemic so traumatic. Humans are used to watching the very young and old and ill die when infectious disease hits but in 1917 it was the soldiers doing the dying, high-school kids, young mothers.

The first cases popped up in Kansas in early spring of 1918.

My poor grandmother was widowed with two young children and two additional children from my grandfather and his late (first) wife. My grandmother was also pregnant with twins at the time, and she was sick with Diphtheria. The twins were born prematurely and were buried with my grandfather. How she mentally survived all that is beyond me.

the early 20th century is difficult to contemplate from here. The sheer scale of it all from each individual life to the collective fates of entire societies. That world is all in black and white and it might as well be Ancient Greece to a great number of people living now.

Or since. The recovery was long..two visits to urgent care and then the hospital. Mask up, get vaccinated and take good care because it sure does not discriminate. So sorry your grandson lost his friend 🌺

Glad you recoverd.

Losing a child is horrific.

for the loss of your grandson's friend.

That's scary.

He was 49 & unvaxed.

included in the current vax - maybe it developed after the vaccine was produced.

Since I live with a 95 year old, I've been masking up with a KN95 whenever I go into indoor public places since 2020.

Over the last 6+ years I've gotten one mild case of Covid, no colds and no flu. In my entire life I've never been this disease free.

On rare occasions people look at me funny, probably less than 5 times total over the last 6 years, but you know what, I'd much rather have people look at me funny than to be down a single hour with a cold, flu or Covid. The trade is well worth it.

If you really don't want to get sick and get others sick, you don't have to, just wear a mask!

Masks work! It's as simple as that.

P.S.You only need to do this indoors. Going outside without a mask is just fine...

Unlike COVID, Influenza is more frequently spread by touch with contaminated objects than respiration of droplets.

in this country today. If the minority of physicians who have sold out and are providing cover to these horrendous memes and destruction of vaccination programs/recommendations had ever seen a child die of measles encephalitis or an infant--desperate to breath but uncontrollably wheezing and coughing with pertussis--or a teen as you describe healthy one day and dead overnight from fulminant course of influenza, well, unless they are total sociopaths, they would do a 180 change overnight and beg for forgiveness.

No, the vaccine is not a great match to the now predominant variant, but it still confers protection against hospitalization and death. Pretty good bargain against a potential sore arm if you ask me.

I've heard from an emergency preparedness professional that the new bird flu has an estimated ~50% lethal rate. It has been found in humans some. Human to human transmission hasn't occurred as of a couple of weeks ago but once that inevitable jump happens this will be a very serious crisis.
Stock up on n94 or n95 masks and make sure you have some HEPA filters in your living space. Soap rather than hand sanitizer is also needed for hygiene.

I just bought 2 boxes of niosh 3M N95s.

Where was bird flu you heard about?

Ty for sharing.

So far just birds to humans in close contact.

I don't know how bad it would be without my vaccination. I'm immune compromised so I get every jab available. Normally when I get the flu it turns into bacterial pneumonia. Cross fingers.

And my best to your grandson and his friend's family. This shit is scary.

the medical world. If you start to feel sickly, start immediately on over the counter meds. If you're not sure ask your doctor or pharmacist for a recommendation. This is supposed to help in reducing any effects from the cold/flu virus.

I don't, but I just bought 2 boxes of 3M NIOSH NA95s

The vaccine missed the mark unfortunately, and this stuff seems to be spreading pretty handily. My partner had a rough three or four days last week, and it spread through his family like wildfire.

I've so far avoided it (knock, knock) by washing my hands a lot and wiping surfaces. (Also slept downstairs in my home office for a few days). A lot of young people in his family sound like death. Just three straight weeks now of whatever is going on. We had a big Thanksgiving gathering, but basically stayed home for Christmas and New Years. We just traded food around with everyone.

We did, however, manage to scratch six movies off our extensive viewing backlog.

I'm back at the hospital for rotation next week, and I am not looking forward to that at all.

Deceased's family distanced & lysoled the hell out of everything &, thus far, have not taken ill.

Do you know what the incubation period is?

Pls stay safe at the hospital!

You can start showing symptoms even the next day after exposure, but two to three days is more common.

The hospital might be safer, because at least there I'm putting on my spaceman suit to go into a flu patient's room, lol.

I'm sorry to hear about your grandson's friend. Flu is such a crapshoot. Yes, older and immuno-compromised people or those with comorbities are more susceptible to severe infection, but it can just take out a young, healthy individual without any seeming rhyme or reason. Read about the 5 year-old upthread, and it's just soul-crushing.

incredibly Heartbreaking ... those poor things. 💔

He was 49 yrs old & not vaxed.

Aloha 🌺

village near me has told the residents to wear masks at all times because of the flu.

Deceased was 49 yrs old & not vaxed, although the efficacy of the vax on this year's strain is iffy, from what I've read.

Stay safe out there, Bronxite!

Be careful of stuff that you bring into your house, like mail and groceries. Those can be contaminated with the viruses from others handling them.

Ty!

Doctors said their immune systems were so strong that it worked against them. Bodies can overreact to a virus and it can be extremely dangerous. Called Cytokine storm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cytokine_storm]

The anecdotes of sudden deaths in the 1918-1920 pandemic are heartbreaking. There are stories of strong young men who left their houses to walk to work. They began to feel ill along the way. They turned around and walked back home, only to fall dead at their doorstep. Their immune systems' overwhelming reactions to the virus hit their systems so hard that they died of organ failure or from asphyxiation due to lung fluid.

Interestingly, it is reported that older people were not so harshly affected. There is a theory that they were exposed to a flu strain in the 1890s which provided partial immunization to them.

Here is hoping that we all come out of this season in high states of wellness.

Natural immunity goes by birth year. Not a guarantee, but an indication of whether one might have immune imprinting to provide some possible protection.

Yes, let's hope we all emerge from this unscathed.

First time ever fully dosed up on a rotation of acetaminophen and ibuprofen taking showers to keep the fever down. The spouse put me out on the back porch.

First telehealth session for me, long before it was a thing. My doctor told me to keep doing what I was doing and wished me luck.

That experience messed me up for around a year.

That’s too close to home. but oh my heart aches for the trauma in that poor family right now.

Gs's friend was 49 y/o, not vaxed, & refused to go to dr.

Sad, but in a way, he brought it on himself.

One of our kiddos had a hockey tournament the week before Christmas. Those tournaments are always a hotbed for diseases.

We all got the vaccine but whatever it is my husband has he still had a nasty cough from it.

to hear about your grandson’s friend. 49 is too young to go. 😭

My husband is slowly getting better. Still coughs like he smoked 2 packs a day for 30 years every morning.

Last edited Tue Jan 6, 2026, 11:13 AM - Edit history (1)

Sorry to hear he's still trying to shake it. Healing vibes on the way.

Most viruses are.
It is the secret behind their success, being able to develop mutations that make them more potent.

The more people exist that aren't vaccinated, the bigger the reservoir of breeding grounds for the next super flu virus to evolve into a deadly form that kills off millions around the world.

A lesson from history.

Get vaccinated!

It's the middle of Summer here in Australia.
March is the start of the flu season.
We get vaccinated in March every year.
It is a special shot for us oldies, a cocktail of vaccines against every known strain.
Hopefully, fully up to date.

I had COVID back in August and so was told to wait for next booster

I can't take the flu vaccines because of my severe allergy to eggs. I've had all of the covid boosters with no problem.
My spouse had the flu until yesterday. He bounced right back. somehow I'm immune this time. Usually, he gets sick for a day and then I'm down for 3 weeks. Not this time.

Might be the strain. Immune imprinting provides some protection & is based on the year of birth.

Last edited Thu Jan 8, 2026, 12:26 AM - Edit history (5)

It is perfectly safe to get up to four vaccines at once if they're medically compatible. But it's better to space them at least two weeks apart, and ideal to wait between six and eight weeks.

When I got my Covid booster in mid-September, I was also offered a flu vax. I said I would return for it in early November: my Covid antibodies would be nearly fully operational by then, and my flu antibodies would be fully operational in time for the height of the flu season in January.

My sincerest condolences.


Rocknation

Yup. I usually get covid & flu shots together. One year i had tdap & pneumonis in addition. Lol

Stay well!

I saw the report on the local news a day or two ago. They interviewed the girl's stepmom and her sister. The sister recounted how, at the end, she began choking on her own blood. She passed away on New Year's Eve. The news said she wanted to be a cosmetologist.

Horrifically sad.

microbe.tv

youtube video following, but I promise it is worth the time. I understand however that the videos are also available on the website.

One of his closest friends got the flu really bad and had trouble breathing, ended up in the ER during Christmas.

Get Tamiflu if you can. I caught the flu last year, and after dosage of Tamiflu I was better immediately and was back on my feet within a day. And that was after I was four days into the illness!