Hasn't the pandemic also taught us that we don't need to accept so many deaths by influenza? I mean, here in Denmark influenza almost vanished because we started using hand sanitizer and facemasks.
> ... travel restrictions, quarantine on arrival, social distancing, school and workplace
closures, mask wearing, surface disinfection, and enhanced hand hygiene
So to eliminate influenza we just need to destroy the economy, restrict travel, force people to pay $1000s in quarantine, cover our faces and close schools and office. And ignore all the negative consequences of that. Got it.
Your comment "almost vanished because we started using hand sanitizer and facemasks." is false. It was much more than that.
EDIT: and your links prove a reduction in influenza, yes, not "taught us that we don't need to accept so many deaths by influenza". That's a much wider debate and involves much more than scientific studies
I feel you're just being overly pedantic here. Surely those links are not the end of the story, they were just links that I could find very quickly. I'm sorry that they don't match your expectations.
I am also sorry that you don't like the “we don't need to accept”. I merely meant that we should have learned by now that we can avoid lots of influenza infections by very simple means, of which improved hand hygiene is probably the most important (I don't have time to look for links, so feel free to ignore the claim).
Denmark has no COVID-19 restrictions, but we do have extensive influenza sentinel surveillance, so we will see how it goes in the upcoming influenza season.
I'm bothered by your ignoring the cost and consequences of eliminating influenza. You mention hand hygiene but the reality is - by admission of the links you yourself provided - that it's much more than that. As if washing our hands is what led to the severe reduction of influenza, and not gigantic changes in our society such as banning travel, banning socialising, closing offices, closing schools etc! At huge, huge cost.
On the other hand consuming huge amounts of face masks generates a lot of emissions which will have negative effect in future. The question is if those measures are actually net positive in case of influenza or we just kill more people later by air pollution and climate change.
