Not correct, diagnostic tests are very specific for upper respiratory viruses, and they are significantly reduced. But, be wary of a rebound once COVID comes under control.

https://www.talkofthevillages.com/fo...696-post2.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/healt...8Xx8Pu_OlTOPuw

Those that are not working or struggling to feed their children aren’t supporting P&G

The test for COVID is not a sure thing. They turn the test over up to 40 times or until they get a positive reading. If they run the test 10 times and get a positive, then they are satisfied. If it goes 40 times without a positive, then they declare it negative for COVID. They have also had many, many false positives and negative results. I have had over a dozen family members infected with the virus. My daughter had ALL the symptoms, that her husband and daughter had that had tested positive and she tested negative. My other daughter had a fever and said she had lost her sense of smell and taste, was told to stay home from work, tested positive for COVID and three days later tested negative. Many folks with symptoms of the FLU have tested positive for COVID. The COVID test was not originally created for this kind of test, if you read up on how it originated. Kind of like a polygraph test, where some folks are told they are lying and aren't and some folks fool the test and are lying. The test is not 100%.
We may be lowering the FLU infection rate due to being careful, but it's not gone. And I am sure that many have the FLU and think it is COVID and eventually get well and carry on with their lives, thinking that they have survived the virus.
Sorry, but the mask is NOT going to be a permanent clothing accessory.

Australia had an unusually light flu season due to increased mask-wearing. More direct proof that masks work.

Australia is also an island with completely closed boarders - no one traveling in or out of the country.
More likely that is the reason...

Nope, you cannot attribute mask wearing as the sole reason for a light flu season. It might be a contributing factor, but so would closed borders, isolation at home, social distancing, closed schools, living in a bubble, wearing a hazmat suit, using a decontamination unit when entering your home, etc.

This thread is in the Investment Forum, but it is starting to jump the track.

Getting back to P&G, I am surprised the stock has not split recently. The last split was in 2004. It was a two-fer like it always has been. (And, yes, I understand splits.) PG has a long history of stock splits.

Procter, a candle maker, and Gamble, a soap maker, met when they married two sisters. P&G was born in Cincinnati in 1837 and the rest is Cincinnati history gone global to 80+ countries.

PG has paid a dividend almost since its incorporation, and more importantly, the dividend has been increased for 64 consecutive years. The percentage of the increase, of course, varies.

Some might find PG to be a boring stock. It usually does not take investors on a rocket ride. But the dividend check has a history of coming through -- and has for a very long time.

Anyway, I think Procter and Gamble will be OK. That "hit" was not really a hit. More of a dip.

(I thought maybe the stock dip was because I have not been buying as many Crest White Strips as usual -- what with wearing a mask and all. I still use them but probably not as often as when I had an actual social life. It is good to know I was not totally responsible for the drop in stock price.)

Boomer

NyQuil is advertising heavily, recently, for the same reason it advertises heavily this time of year, every year: It's cold and flu season.

Find a niche and fill it. (Find a nose and stick it.)

According to yesterday’s Cincinnati Business Courier, Procter and Gamble has a new nasal swab and has announced its licensing to Rhinostics — a Massachusetts company that is bringing Covid at-home testing to market.

The nose knows.

The cases of seasonal influenza are way down as well. It's not just masks. It's the hand washing, sanitizing and social distancing as well. And don't forget there are some people that refuse to leave their homes and venture outside at all.