https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/26/nyregion/nyc-flu-cases.html

But the flu shot is rarely effective—maybe once or twice every ten years is it even 50% effective. Then this author hits us with zingers, but he did learn something in journalism school, and so he tempers his claim in the following paragraph.

“We are seeing the highest number of flu cases ever recorded in a single week in New York State,” State Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald said, noting that the state recorded 71,123 flu cases for the week ending Dec. 20. That was the most recorded in a single week since 2004, when the state began its current method of reporting cases.

But testing for the flu has also increased in recent years, meaning that a greater share of cases are probably being captured than in the past, according to the Health Department.

But what do the CDC’s surveillance data tell us about flu cases throughout the US at this very same time? In most of the US, flu and flu-like illness activity was MINIMAL.

Here are more national data from CDC. Visits for flu-like illness seem to be average for this time of year.

https://www.cdc.gov/fluview/surveillance/2025-week-50.html

People being hospitalized for influenza (confirmed by testing) during the 50th week of the year were higher in both the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons than they are in 2025.

However, NYC is an outlier. Apparently it does have a high rate of influenza currently. But the NYT is a national newspaper. Shouldn’t it qualify its dire statements with some facts about the national numbers?

The NYT did (towards the end of the article) admit that this flu strain is actually not that severe, despite predictions that it would be. The fact that in NY there are more cases occurring, but only the usual number of cases are being hospitalized, tells us that this flu is actually milder than the average.

The good news is that, in New York, at least, the flu this year doesn’t appear more likely to result in patients being hospitalized than normal, according to experts. “At this time, there’s no indication the current strain is more virulent than other strains,” Cadence Acquaviva, a spokeswoman for the New York State Health Department, said.

Below are the national flu-like illness numbers for the week ending December 13. I think CDC is a week behind due to Christmas. And below that, we see that child deaths involving influenza are lower this year than the past 3 years at this time.

The bottom line is don’t worry! If you feel so inclined, wash hands often, and don’t touch your mucus membranes after touching public spaces. The globalists want us constantly scared of disease and death, and we need to say NO.