JEFF CHILDERS ASKED CHAT GPT

meanwhile

Quick, we need a new scary Greek monster name for this year’s flu variant! Maybe Fluzilla? Phlegemoth? Fartopulus? Slowed by the CDC gag order but not stopped, corporate media this week hyped the flu season. Axios’s scary story yesterday ran under the headline, “U.S. facing worst flu season since 2009, experts say.” Welcome back to infection and hospitalization rates. But not back to “overwhelmed” hospitals; this time, they are “clogged.”

I’ll give them credit, far-left Axios ran a skeptical section headed “between the lines.” Or maybe it’s just because it’s neither a Republican election year nor is there a Democrat in the White House. Either way.

First Axios reported that, “compounding the problem,” this year’s flu vaccine was even less effective (35%) than normal (45%). It is right at the placebo level (20-40%). When you read about low flu vaccination rates (which is false, but never mind), maybe it has something to do with the fact their jab product is all risk and no benefit.

Next, get this, Axios quoted an astonishingly honest admission by Carol McLay, president of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology. The Queen of Experts.

I’m just joking. She’s probably very nice and not covid crazy. More impressive was her straightforward concession. McLay confessed, unironically, “We think because people were social distancing and using masks for so long during COVID that we have reduced immunity to the flu.”

Thanks again, experts.

I’ll squeeze in one more fact you might want to consider. In the New York Times’ fludemic article, simply headlined “Flu Cases Are Surging,” the Gray Lady ended its scary article by mentioning, offhand, as “good news,” that 2025 is also the mildest covid winter season in history. In other words, there’s less covid, but more flu— the flipside of the last five years. Cue my rolling eyes.

All of that said, the “worst flu season since 2009” was calculated using models. So, we’ll see. Fortunately though, I kept all my covid anti-propaganda in my junk drawer just in case I might need it someday. Behold, as an evergreen reminder, consider these even scarier influenza headlines from just a few years back in 2018:

“California hospitals face a ‘war zone’ of flu patients — and are setting up tents to treat them.” (LA Times, January 2018)

“Hospitals Overwhelmed by Flu Patients; Doctors Are Treating Them in Tents.” (Time, January 2018).

“Hospitals Overflow as Flu Epidemic Spreads Unabated.” (Bloomberg, February 2018). The sub-head: “Deaths continue to rise as this year’s record season worsens.”

? Wait, I can’t resist. Let’s do some side-by-sides! Compare 2025 (San Francisco Chronicle):