The Flu is Much Deadlier Than The Chinese Coronavirus

[Video Games Are Dumb]

https://www.axios.com/coronavirus-i...tes-64311582-2031-40af-8ec3-9ff68341d4f3.html

TLDR: Over 8,000 people died of the flu in the United States last year. Vaccination rates are still low for some reason. The coronavirus is newsworthy, significantly harmful, and requires a coordinated strategy to prevent death and infections - but maybe we should focus on how newsworthy and harmful the flu is? Get vaccinated, kids.

 

[WedgeX]

We can certainly do both.

 

[CloseTalker]

Lol takes like this are so bizarre. When i can get a Caronavirus shot at my drug store, I'll start worrying about it less than the flu.

Lots of things are deadlier than the caronavirus.

 

[rusty chrome]

It's not a competition.

 

[Trace]

You're also significantly more likely to die in a car accident, guess I should stop worrying about Coronavirus. Thanks OP.

 

[MayorSquirtle]

Kinda weird to compare raw death numbers between the flu over a full year and the coronavirus which has only been around for two months.

 

[Scuffed]

You're also significantly more likely to die in a car accident, guess I should stop worrying about Coronavirus. Thanks OP.

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It's just some perspective no reason to get all pissed off.

 

[CaviarMeths]

Imagine making a whole ass thread to let people know about your "coronovirus isn't that serious, guys" take.

 

[Video Games Are Dumb]

Lol takes like this are so bizarre.

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I honestly wouldn't qualify this as a "take" when it's demonstrably true.
Right now, health scares are grabbing headlines. Seems like a good time to point out there are preventative measures we can take right now than already affected millions upon millions of Americans each year. Ain't nobody trying to be hot or downplay Corona but everyone should consider their current vaccination status.

 

[Deleted member 44129]

An expert in these matters on Sky News in the UK just said the exact opposite. She says that proportionally, you're more likely to die of Coronavirus than if you get flu.

 

[Video Games Are Dumb]

Imagine making a whole ass thread to let people know about your "coronovirus isn't that serious, guys" take.

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I'd like a pull quote where either the article or myself said that.

 

[Z-Beat]

Vaccination rates are still low for some reason.

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[Long sigh]

 

[Z Y]

All flus matter

 

[Big-E]

Right now there is way too much hysteria concerning Corona virus. Anything that can get people to begin to think rationally is worth it. People still buying up masks like they are actually worth something. The health authority here had to issue a statement saying they do nothing and to stop hoarding them.

 

[DJ_Lae]

Our senior medical officer here said basically the same thing yesterday - there are no confirmed cases of coronavirus here but there have been thousands of lab-confirmed cases of influenza, thousands of hospital stays and hundreds of deaths from it.

People will sooner raid pharmacies for masks than get a (free) flu shot. And that vaccine rate is less than 30%.

 

[Maquiladora]

Can someone forward this on to the Chinese authorities who have quarantined 45 million people in their cities to prevent the spread of the coronavirus? Thanks.

 

[Monster Zero]

https://news.yahoo.com/chinas-coron...ndemic-that-killed-50-m-people-151608803.html

Flu has a deathrate of 0.1%, the Corona Virus has a deathrate of 2%. Think about that 8000 deaths you listed and how much greater that death toll would be if that same group(United States) had been infected with the Corona Virus.

 

[Rowsdower]

I mean to be fair, the new coronavirus has only been around for a few months.

 

[Camwi]

I mean, it's much deadlier right now, but if the virus becomes as widespread as the flu is, who knows what the death count could be?

 

[x3sphere]

it's had 132 deaths across 6.2k cases so far - that's like a 2% fatality rate

The flu had 8700 deaths across 15 million cases. How do you make the determination the flu is more deadly from that? In absolute terms yes but the numbers show that more people that get the Coronavirus are dying from it. The headline here is misleading...

 

[Ojli]

So with the numbers in the article, fatality for corona is 2.2% and 0.054% for flu. SARS was 9.6% fatality for reference

 

[Deleted member 8196]

I don't understand how can people die with a flu in first world countries.

And i don't think a flu is more deadlier than corona, when, well, there are vaccines and medicines that can help you deal with the flu and there is nothing for Corona.

 

[sfedai0]

What is the point of this thread?

 

[Dream Machine]

the flu would kick conona's ass

i want it

 

[Video Games Are Dumb]

Can someone forward this on to the Chinese authorities who have quarantined 45 million people in their cities to prevent the spread of the coronavirus? Thanks.

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I would be very interested in what brought out this reaction. No one here is saying Corona isn't a significant issue. What it IS saying is we lose 8,000 people in a highly developed country like the United States. With all of it's regulations and outreach, 15 million people still get the flu. And vaccinations rates are inexcusably low.

This is NOT a Neil deGrasse Tyson take. It is a re-framing of the situation encouraging more people get vaccinated for the flu.

 

[Lord Error]

An expert in these matters on Sky News in the UK just said the exact opposite. She says that proportionally, you're more likely to die of Coronavirus than if you get flu.

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I'm curious about this - how much higher is the death rate of infected people vs. the regular flu?
Also does this virus spread easier than the regular flu?

 

[Xando]

This thread is whataboutism at its finest

 

[Doctoglethorpe]

I'm just slightly paranoid because I'm going to Disneyland soon and there's a lot of Chinese tourists there all the time. I think I will be liberal with the hand sanitizer. (Something i should probably always be doing at DL)

Lol takes like this are so bizarre. When i can get a Caronavirus shot at my drug store, I'll start worrying about it less than the flu.

Lots of things are deadlier than the caronavirus.

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TBF flu shots are like... 50% effective at best, usually.

 

[Deleted member 45614]

I honestly wouldn't qualify this as a "take" when it's demonstrably true.
Right now, health scares are grabbing headlines. Seems like a good time to point out there are preventative measures we can take right now than already affected millions upon millions of Americans each year. Ain't nobody trying to be hot or downplay Corona but everyone should consider their current vaccination status.

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Ah so only "Americans" matter not the billions of people in Asia, got it.

1. There is vaccines for numerous Flu strains, not for Coronavirus

2.Even if China is being 100% factual with the figures they have, there would be people that haven't gone to the hospital out of fear of contracting the Coronavirus that are contaminated that maybe died in their homes or places the Chinese authorities don'tknow about yet, it's more likely they are downplaying the numbers than anything else.

3. Only a small percentage have actually recovered from the Coronavirus (again according to Chinese figures) thus the battle for their life is still ongoing.

4. Due to the lockdown people could die from starvation or other things that aren't being accommodated due to everyone worrying about the virus.

To sum up we don't know how bad the Coronavirus is yet, it's increasing in multiples every couple of days and hasn't peaked yet by the seems of it and unlike the Flu we don't have any measures to fully fight it yet.

 

[jakomocha]

Way more people have the flu. Wouldn't the more proper metric to look at be the proportion of cases that are lethal?

 

[Divvy]

This thread is whataboutism at its finest

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It's not whataboutism because people's disproportionate reactions to this virus versus one that is far more applicable is the point. People fighting over masks and engaging in xenophobia and racism while not even bothering to get the free annual flu shot is exactly the point.

 

[kvetcha]

The flu has killed more people, but Wuhan coronavirus is certainly deadlier.

 

[Youngfossil]

Medical whataboutism...

people can care about both. Why must everything be either or

 

[Scuffed]

it's had 132 deaths across 6.2k cases so far - that's like a 2% fatality rate

The flu had 8700 deaths across 15 million cases. How do you make the determination the flu is more deadly from that? In absolute terms yes but the numbers show that more people that get the Coronavirus are dying from it. The headline here is misleading...

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https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-51299195

It is far too simplistic to take the 130 deaths and the 6,000 cases and come up with a death rate of 2%. We're in the middle of the outbreak and thousands of those patients are still being treated. We don't know if they will live or die, so they can't be used in these calculations. We also don't know how many mild and undetected cases are out there.
"It is very early to make any statements on what the overall mortality rate may be," the WHO's Maria Van Kerkhove has warned.

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[Cow]

This anti scaremongering stuff needs to end. Do we even know how deadly the coronavirus is?

Scaremongering is not good but being on the other end telling everyone it is nothing is just as bad.

 

[Wackamole]

It's not a competition.

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Exactly....

 

[Video Games Are Dumb]

Ah so only "Americans" matter not the billion of people in Asia, got it.

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Who is saying this? Shit, who is even implying this? The Coronavirus is a deeply significant concern.
Now let's also talk about another horrifically deadly virus that is easily preventable, yet vaccinations are embarrassingly low.
This is a motherfucking finger wave towards Americans for not getting their house in order. Not some sort of xenophobic dismissal of a current crisis. Jesus.

 

[Kthulhu]

I don't understand how can people die with a flu in first world countries.

And i don't think a flu is more deadlier than corona, when, well, there are vaccines and medicines that can help you deal with the flu and there is nothing for Corona.

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Old, young, and immuno compromised people are vulnerable to the flu. If you're healthy then you typically don't have much to worry about.

 

[DopeyFish]

now imagine having both circulating

and sars too

it's not an either/or situation... you don't get to choose what you're infected with

it's... let's prevent at minimum having something else that kills lots of people on top of the flu

 

[Kill3r7]

If there were as many cases of people going untreated with the coronavirus as there are of the flu then there would be a much, much higher death toll.

 

[Poodlestrike]

There's a way to address the fact that there are existing diseases that factually dwarf the Coronavirus, but as the thread framed the discussion as a whataboutism, we do not believe this thread will produce good discussion, and as such are locking it.