controversy Loc: Wuhan, China

...noticed some questions about how serious the common flu is relative to Covid-19. This link at the CDC may be helpful -- it provides flu statics for the previous 10 years -- and might surprise you.

http://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/index.html

You'll note that in 2017-2018 flu season October-March the CDS estimated...
45,000,000 US residents had the flu
21,000,000 visited a doctor
810,000 were hospitalized
61,000 died
Appears to have been much worse than Covid-19, so far --- AND there were immunizations and proven therapeutics available for this common flu. Don't remember any business shutdowns or shelter in place orders -- in fact, I don't recall the news media even mentioning it.

Last year, 20-18-2019, the numbers are...
35,520,883 US residents had the flu
16,520,350 visited a doctor
490,561 were hospitalized
34,157 died

aphelps Loc: Central Ohio

But the common flu does not spread nearly so rapidly as covid 19.
That is the significant difference and why we are separating ourselves from others.

Frank T Loc: New York, NY

The raw numbers are misleading. The common flu did not kill 34,000 people in six weeks.
COVID 19 has already killed, 31,000 people in the United States
COVID19 IS NOT THE FLU.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Those flu figures are irrelevant. This is something new. COVID-19 is a deadly disease that spreads very easily and for which there is no treatment and no cure. A this point, we can't even test the population for it.

EDIT: Causes of deaths this past week.

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

So now we have another "well duh" moment that needs to be explained slowly so it sinks in. The flu statistic covers a full year of flu season. COVID-19 has run less then 4 months here in the US with over 35,400 deaths so far (CDC count to-date). You can do the math now or just wait until next January to enlighten us again.

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

Frank, how unkind of you, poking holes in the premise comparison, you will be accused of examines things rationally!! Manipulating the raw numbers out from 6 weeks to 52 weeks is a factor of 8.67, so at 31,000 in 6weeks that amounts to 268,666 lives for a year. If we stop stay in place and social distancing Two hundred and Seventy Thousand could be a real one year number in 2020.

Having had the Hong Kong flu in 1957, I will say no thank you to taking a chance with this one. I was 21 years old then and survived .. it was really bad. Now I am 84 and in the 20% fatality group... YIKES.

As is said at the daily briefings, "how could we imagine such a pandemic could happen." Yes, we could learn from history: "1957 flu pandemic, also called Asian flu pandemic of 1957 or Asian flu of 1957, outbreak of influenza that was first identified in February 1957 in East Asia and that subsequently spread to countries worldwide. The 1957 flu pandemic was the second major influenza pandemic to occur in the 20th century; it followed the influenza pandemic of 1918–19 and preceded the 1968 flu pandemic. The 1957 flu outbreak caused an estimated one million to two million deaths worldwide and is generally considered to have been the least severe of the three influenza pandemics of the 20th century."
https://www.britannica.com/event/Asian-flu-of-1957

1917-18 flu took 50million. The bad in 1917, but worse was when it reemerged in 1918. It was in reality not the Spanish flu, it started in Kansas... mid USA.
https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/influenza-epidemic/

BurghByrd Loc: Pittsburgh

I don't know what this has to do with photography but I'll toss my hat in anyway. I've read that the R-0 value for this disease is on the order of 3.5 whereas for the flu it's more like 1. Which is to say that each infected individual will pass the disease on to x number of people, 3 1/2 for the new corona virus and 1 for the flu. Also, this disease devolves into a horrendous case of pheumonia for some few of whom survive even when ventilated; hence the health systems panic about their ablility to keep up with the expected influx of patients who are essentially dying of suffocation. The numbers for COVID19 in the US according to Johns Hopkins are ~735,000 confirmed cases and > 39,000 deaths and that's with social distancing. I would immagine that the fatalities would be at least two to three times that (see R-0) if social distancing measures hadn't been put in place. Make no mistake, this disease is a killer. We are going to have a grim decision to make when we weigh the price of relaxing social distancing to save our economy from total collapse. God be with us all.

controversy Loc: Wuhan, China

If you can't test for it, then how do you know how many people have it? Do you have a count of undetected cases?

bleirer

It is probably more similar to the 1918 flu, a novel virus with no community immunity and no vaccine and no treatment. Without social distancing it killed 675,000 Americans and killed estimated 50 million worldwide. When we have a vaccine and something similar to Tamiflu it will be a different story. Until then prevention is the only way. They think 25 to 50% of carriers show no symptoms but they are infectious, making vulnerable people die without even knowing they spread it to others.

controversy Loc: Wuhan, China

Well, duh, the CDC statistical flu season is mid-October into March.

controversy Loc: Wuhan, China

May I ask you to please share your data showing the number of flu infections in, say, the past 8 weeks?

controversy Loc: Wuhan, China

Do you find it interesting that the number of reported deaths from pneumonia, heart disease, auto-immune deficiency, and flu have declined in the past couple of months?

Perhaps they are being reported as "covid deaths" if the person has tested postive for covid or, reportedly, has simply displayed symtoms of covid (the flu?).

There is a difference between causation and correlation. Did you know that everyone who died last year had been exposed to sunlight?

bleirer

Our Ohio governor, Mike DeWine, was asked recently about churches that were gathering in person for Easter. He looked into the camera and said he never heard of any religion that had 'harm your neighbor' as a basic belief. Then he practically begged people to watch the service online.

Retired CPO Loc: Travel full time in an RV

You guys are REALLY trying to have a "the sky is falling" moment aren't you? It's obvious that many of you haven't even read the original post completely. If I didn't know better I would think you were all from New York with the biggest disasters and the megadon snowfalls and the "super storms" etc. that only affect New Yorkers.
What, nothing happening in your lives to make up stories about to pass down to your grandkids? GET A GRIP for Christ's sake! And stop reading the FAKE NEWS!

pendennis

There's been a rush to blame COVID-19 for deaths, when COVID-19 is an "underlyer"; it makes it likely that a person will die from pneumonia, ARDS, renal failure, heart attack (generic), or other cause of death. COVID-19 doesn't "kill" anyone.

During the 1918 "Spanish Flu" pandemic, most deaths were attributable to, and classified as mostly pneumonia, since that disease arose so quickly in patients. There are cases in which patients died in as little as ten hours, from onset of symptoms, to death.

Living in the Detroit Metro area, we now have seen the "racializing" of COVID-19. The local "news" stations are even reporting by ZIP code, as if the virus knew which codes to hit, to specifically affect blacks. They've completely omitted the fact that Detroit is probably the most segregated city in the nation (80% black), that there are no natural barriers, only street boundaries, and that Detroit's citizens have moved freely to cities outside their ZIP codes, to Dearborn, Livonia, Canton, Warren, Grosse Pointes, where the larger chain stores are.

Everyone is completely ignoring the fact that disease penetration can't be measured except in the aftermath of the pandemic; and the fact that not everyone will ever be tested.

Influenza resistance can also be attributed to so-called herd "immunity". Living in areas where people naturally congregate, immunity is passed on in the way of mild viral attacks, creating the ability to release antibodies, building up immunity.

People also forget Polyomyelitis. It was a terrifying killer until the late 1950's. It was know, and being studied before the 1918 pandemic. However, research efforts largely went dormant until the late 1940's, when Dr. Salk stepped up efforts for a vaccine. There have been theories that the great migration from rural to urban living in the early 20th Century may have been a factor. Urban dwellers probably had developed an immunity, and those folks migrating to the cities had not.