22,000 Deaths from normal Flu this year so far, why is that not a huge story also?

[USALiberal]

CDC estimates that so far this season there have been at least 36 million flu illnesses, 370,000 hospitalizations and 22,000 deaths from flu.

https://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/index.htm

I understand the COVID19 is 10 times more deadly, but so far only about 7,000 deaths.

Seems like the normal flu should get more coverage.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. Because it's a RW talking point they use to downplay the severity of cv.

This epidemic is just getting started and all predictions are that there will be far more deaths from it than from seasonal flu.

[Terry_M]

2. Normal flu normally takes out 70k every single year

This year we'll have an extra 700k deaths if everything goes well and the medical system doesn't get overwhelmed (it will, and it will probably be more than 700k as it does and people start being turned away at hospitals). Seems like a good reason

[BluesClues]

3. Because 40000 people die each year from the Flu

dur

[Kaleva]

4. Because the chances of dying from "normal" flu is about zilch.

And we have vaccines for "normal" flu which we do not have for COVID-19.

[malaise]

5. Flu is very profitable

Think about it

[rzemanfl]

6. bookmarking

[Mariana]

21. Really. Me too. nt.

[Squinch]

7. I have never, in all my born days, known anyone who died of flu. I have never

even known someone who knew someone who died of flu other than references to 1918.

I have heard that people die from the flu and I believe it, but I have never heard of any specific person connected to my acquaintances who died from the flu.

One of the CV victims is a friend of a friend. We're very early in the process. I suspect it will get a lot closer than that before it is done.

[uppityperson]

12. 21 yr old cousin did about 10 yrs ago

It was awful

[Squinch]

15. I'm sorry for your loss.

[rzemanfl]

13. My maternal grandfather died in the 1957-1958 flu epidemic at the age of 62. n/t

[Squinch]

16. I'm sorry for your loss.

[rzemanfl]

17. It was a long time ago, but thank you. I am ten years older now than he was

when he died.

[Squinch]

19. That's always a weird feeling. I was looking at a picture of my grandmother recently,

when she was definitely looking like my dear old grandma, and I realized she was younger in the photo than I am now.

[Cousin Dupree]

14. I knew a 56 year old diabetic who died of H1N1

[crazylikafox]

22. Both my father and grandfather died from the flu

They both had underlying lung conditions (former coal miners) but the flue is what finished both of them off. My Grandfather at age 70 and my Dad at 74. Not young, but what is almost considered late middle age now.

[Squinch]

23. They seem young to me. I'm sorry for your loss.

[tavernier]

36. My doctor died of the flu

probably around ten years ago or so. He was so busy with sick patients he didn’t get around to getting a vaccine. It was in the papers because he was the only doctor in Florida to die of the flu that year.

[uponit7771]

9. The R0 for CV is 3ish the R0 for the flu is 1ish, CV has an incubation time flu has less and ...

... there are vaccines for the flue and anti-virals there are none for CV

[greenjar_01]

10. We know how many people, more or less, will succumb to flu each year

We have vaccines and treatments and a good idea of progression. You can't reduce the flu deaths much more than we already have, given a wide variety of health and social factors. That YOU may have just learned that these are the numbers doesn't make them extraordinary or even actionable: our public health system does everything it can do every year, and that's about where we'll land every year. It's tragic, but like heart attacks or strokes, it's predictable and relatively steady. It is not likely to overwhelm health resources or cause massive economic disruption because that death number is already priced into our existing systems. A lot of people die, every year. We know more or less how many and how they will die, and how the flu affects our systems.

COVID-19 is unpredictable, has no precedent, and may overwhelm public health resources and cause massive economic disruption. That's why.

You can follow in-depth coverage of flu in any of the many medical journals or through the CDC. Every year, we have massive public health efforts begging people to be vaccinated for flu, and we have developed remarkable systems of providing those. This year, I walked into a local Target and got a flu shot in under 30 minutes. I received at least 5 emails from our pediatrician through August and September reminding me to get my kids vaccinated for flu. That's all real public health notification and labor.

[FirstLight]

18. This

Especially:

COVID-19 is unpredictable, has no precedent, and may overwhelm public health resources and cause massive economic disruption. That's why.

Considering there is NO vaccine, and still mutations that have us guessing at spread, AND people are also NOT immune after having it they can get re-infected and THEN die ...

This is not a drill folks, and I am getting tired of "well, the regular flu is deadly too" talking point.

[misanthrope]

33. If people get re-infected with SARS-CoV-2

then it's doubtful we can make a vaccine.

[Newest Reality]

11. Isn't this

a more virulent strain of corona? I mean, I thought that was clear.

Also, so far, the mortality rate is much higher and the statistics vary, but it is much worse than the usual flu.

A two or three percent mortality rate and the severe complications alone should be enough. Just take the total population of the US and apply a low figure of 2% mortality rate. It is too early to tell, but it could be much higher. Just saying, trackers show about 3.7% right now. I will not be held to that because I know, (the relationship between infected, confirmed, recovery, etc.) it will be a while before we know anything more precisely.

We also have not even reached the peak globally or locally yet, so "so far" doesn't apply. Let's just say deaths could be in the millions not thousands after this reaches its peak. Time will tell, but playing this down is a bad idea. We need the concern to be high.

[comradebillyboy]

20. Last year about 2.8 million people died

in the United States. Flu deaths (22,000 per CDC) account for roughly 0.79% of total US deaths.

[zackymilly]

24. The normal flu doesn't sell toilet paper! n/t

[Dem2]

25. I got a flu shot because it exists.

NOVEL coronavirus means it's NEW to human beings. So nobody has immunity to it. Nobody.

Considering it was only first seen in humans about 3 months ago, the only reason the deaths are "only 7000 (asctually 5814)" is because it's only infected a minuscule percentage of the world population thus far.

Because your post is not accounting for the lack of people who have been infected so far makes it deceptive and something rightwingers like Rush Limbaugh are saying. It's deceptive and you should delete it.


Edit: here's some simple math:

CDC says 17,000,000 Americans get medical attention for flu. 22,000 of them die. That's 0.13% death rate.

The equivalent for COVID-19 is 'confirmed cases' which is 2500 so far. 55 have died. That's a 2.2% death rate for those who seek medical attention.

A VERY conservative estimate using the same 17,000,000 who get medical attention for flu leaves 374,000 dead per year. If nothing is done to contain this, and since no vaccine exists to keep people from getting sick, this is a conservative estimate.

[Kingofalldems]

28. I agree. RW talking points.

[blitzen]

26. Because the regular flu doesn't exceed our hospital and heath care system capacity (see Italy) n/t

[Mariana]

27. People want to hear/read about stuff they don't already know.

Everyone already knows people die of the flu.

[Spider Jerusalem]

29. Let's put it this way:

if you know 100 people, and all of them get the flu, odds are none of them will die. If you know 100 people and all of them get coronavirus, you'll be going to 3 or 4 funerals.

[defacto7]

31. Yep. and 80 will get sick, 30 will be in the hospital,

15 will be critical and many of those sick will have lost 20-30% of their lung capacity for life. That's no flu.

[defacto7]

30. How fast do you want it to catch up with you?

Don't be too impatient, it's coming.

[meadowlander]

32. Most flu strains are already endemic.

They circulate through the human population regularly. Most people who are exposed to them have already been exposed to a similar strain so they have some immunity or it is easier for the immune system to fight them off (unless they are already immuno-compromised for some other reason).

Virtually no one has been exposed to Covid-19 before. So most of the people who are exposed to it are going to catch it and their immune systems are going to have to work harder to fight it off. With the flu, you can get a flu shot or take Tamiflu for the the first few days to lessen your chance of getting it or to shorten the duration. We don't have anything like that for Covid-19 yet.

And a lot of the measures to stop Covid-19 are aimed at stopping it from becoming endemic so it doesn't become just another bug we have to deal with every year like H1N1. They're trying to reduce the total number of free-floating flu bugs that increase that yearly death total. It's too late to do anything about those bugs but it's potentially not too late for Covid-19 (or wouldn't have been if world governments had been on the ball in the first place).

[still_one]

34. Because they have a vaccine for influenza, and while it isn't fool proof

it lessens the impact.

Also, the Corona Virus is 10 times more lethal than influenza

[matt819]

35. Because it's not unusual

Sure, lots of deaths, but it happens every year the mortality rate is stable at 1/10 of 1%. And it’s preventable to a degree with annual vaccinations.

In contrast, COVID-19 is new, novel. No vaccine. And a mortality rate of 10x to 50x greater.

So, if 100,000 people get the seasonal flu, you might have 100 people who die. 100,000 coronavirus patients will generate from 1,000 to 5,000 deaths.

[Under The Radar]

37. I have never known anyone who died from the flu, ever

....unless pneumonia is considered the flu.