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Paul Joseph Watson
\nSUMMIT News<\/p>\n
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Top epidemiologist Knut Wittkowski says that the massive drop in influenza cases can be attributed to the fact that many are being falsely counted as COVID-19 cases.<\/strong><\/p>\n Wittkowski, former Head of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Research Design at Rockefeller University, cautioned that, \u201cInfluenza has been renamed COVID-19 in large part.\u201d<\/p>\n According to CDC figures, the cumulative positive influenza test rate from late September into the week of December 19th was just 0.2%, compared to 8.7% from a year before.<\/p>\n According to Wittkowski, this is because many flu infections are being incorrectly labeled as coronavirus cases.<\/p>\n \u201cThere may be quite a number of influenza cases included in the \u2018presumed COVID-19\u2019 category of people who have COVID-19 symptoms (which Influenza symptoms can be mistaken for), but are not tested for SARS RNA,\u201d Wittkowski told\u00a0Just the News<\/a>.<\/p>\n Those patients may \u201calso may have some SARS RNA sitting in their nose while being infected with Influenza, in which case the influenza would be \u2018confirmed\u2019 to be COVID-19,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Wittkowski challenges the notion that masks and social distancing have resulted in a drop in flu cases, asserting that flu and COVID-19 viruses are \u201cmore similar than people want to acknowledge.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPeople know everybody is wearing masks and distancing, and so people want to come up with things that are good about it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n In places like California and Pennsylvania where mask wearing is most common, COVID-19 cases have continued to skyrocket.<\/p>\n As Just the News notes, \u201cData indicate that more than nine out of every 10 Americans in most states are wearing masks in public regularly; those numbers have been above 80% since the early fall. Yet average positive COVID-19 tests have multiplied by nearly seven times since the spring peak.\u201d<\/p>\n