Influenza is a completely different virus that is known to not just mutate but to exchange entire segments of its genome, hence the nomenclature H1N1, H2N3, etc. So, the 1918 flu is a completely different influenza A subtype. You also have influenza subtype B, which is a different influenza virus. I’m not an expert by any means but it’s not as simple as just saying a mutation made it influenza worse. Influenza does some crazy genome swapping. SARS2 and SARS1 are both coronaviruses but SARS2 isn’t a mutation of SARS1. . They are separate coronaviruses, not simply strains of the same virus. SARS1 actually had a higher CFR than SARS2 and burned out more quickly.
Respiratory viruses in general are just harder to control due to aerosol spread. An MIT study showed that aerosol distribution make 6 foot social distancing no different than 60 foot social distancing. Aerosol size is much smaller than the mesh size of masks, which are actually designed to stop droplets from contaminating sterile fields during surgery (and we can argue how effective they are at doing that really, if you read the studies). Lockdowns, social distancing, masks might make people feel better but in reality the measures typically cause more harm than good. The best thing the world could have done is let the pandemic run its course, infecting the young and healthy, who mostly would have had mild to no symptoms and allow natural immunity to build rapidly. That alone would have blocked a lot of transmission and protected our most vulnerable. What we essentially have done instead is draw this thing out unnecessarily to the point where more people unnecessarily died not just from COVID, but from secondary effects of the poor public health policies. We will be dealing with the consequences of this for years in the form of lower immunity against other common respiratory viruses, which will now become a big deal, especially in children. You are already seeing this in New Zealand with the rhinovirus outbreak, which has hospitalized a lot of children. Undiagnosed cancer and chronic disease, much of which could have been treated early, will burden a lot of folks. And let’s not forget the social harm we have caused our kids - many lost out on experiencing their final year of high school and other important social milestones. How many kids are now behind in school - how will they catch up on these past 18 months? In Baltimore 40% of public scool children had a GPA of 1. The number of healthy people we unnecessarily sacrificed by poor public health policy is more than would have been sacrificed by allowing the healthy get infected with the virus.
I also predict that the hasty introduction of this spike protein mRNA vaccine is going to have significant consequences that won’t be appreciated for several years. There is evidence that the spike protein triggers inflammatory signaling cascades in human cells. A group of researchers have shown in a mouse model with human ACE receptors, the mice developed pulmonary artery thickening. Just now the FDA has approved testing the vaccine in pregnant women and yet we have been vaccinating preganant women since the beginning. That is just wrong. By the way, I chose to get vaccinated because I am in the high risk group. But I would never demand that a low risk person get vaccinated for me. I know, first of all, that life has risks. Second, my identity is in Christ and not on what happens in this world - death does not have a grip on me. Second, asymptomatic transmission is rare (like every other respiratory virus) - I have read the studies, not the CNN, Fox, MSNBC headlines. And I certainly don’t put stock into what Fauci or the CDC says.
Anyway, sorry to rant. I think you and I agree on a lot of things and we might be splitting hairs on mutations, etc. I’m sure we disagree on a lot of things, too, and that’s OK. Unfortunately we may not know the whole truth of this pandemic for years To come.