(stolen from FReeper knarf)
Posted on 03/27/2020 8:05:29 AM PDT by Enlightened1
NEW YORK — An estimated 80,000 Americans died of flu and its complications last winter — the disease’s highest death toll in at least four decades.
The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Robert Redfield, revealed the total in an interview Tuesday night with The Associated Press.
Flu experts knew it was a very bad season, but at least one found size of the estimate surprising.
“That’s huge,” said Dr. William Schaffner, a Vanderbilt University vaccine expert. The tally was nearly twice as much as what health officials previously considered a bad year, he said.
In recent years, flu-related deaths have ranged from about 12,000 to — in the worst year — 56,000, according to the CDC.
Last fall and winter, the U.S. went through one of the most severe flu seasons in recent memory. It was driven by a kind of flu that tends to put more people in the hospital and cause more deaths, particularly among young children and the elderly.
The season peaked in early February. It was mostly over by the end of March, although some flu continued to circulate.
Making a bad year worse, the flu vaccine didn’t work very well. Experts nevertheless say vaccination is still worth it, because it makes illnesses less severe and save lives.
“I’d like to see more people get vaccinated,” Redfield told the AP at an event in New York. “We lost 80,000 people last year to the flu.”
CDC officials do not have exact counts of how many people die from flu each year. Flu is so common that not all flu cases are reported, and flu is not always listed on death certificates. So the CDC uses statistical models, which are periodically revised, to make estimates.
(Excerpt) Read more at statnews.com ...
Today Coronavirus has killed 1,307 people in the USA. Think about that...
It was not an election year with the Democrats out of the White House.
Because we have a flu shot to contain it. We have nothing for China flu.
(stolen from FReeper knarf)
With all the passing of the movers and shakers from Coronavirus, and the well known data on the flu, I wondered why we never once hear of a celebrity dying of the flu, current or past, news or WIKI. I finally figured out that the deaths are listed as pneumonia or whatever developed subsequently. Small point, I guess.
Makes one wonder if the China Virus got here last year, yes?
Don’t give the government any ideas about shutting down the country every flu season.
This article is from Fall 2018, so it is referring to the 2017—2018 winter (two years ago).
Words right out of my mouth.
Not every flu season. Only the ones they can exploit for political gain.
I am sorry, which mover and shaker or celebrity died from the latest Chinese super virus. I must have missed something.
Haha...I think THAT cat is already out of the bag
I understand that Italy has been hit hard by COVID-19. At least, Northern Italy. For a disease that transmits easily and caseloads growing exponentially, I guess I don’t understand why Southern Italy doesn’t seem to have much of a problem yet. Another thing that makes no sense to me.
2 weeks.
Apparently the number of cases is increasing in the South.
Finally we have proof of the deadliness of Covid19 from NYC.
NYC had 53,006 deaths from all causes in 2014
NYC had 2,220 deaths from Influenza and Pneumonia in 2014
https://data.cityofnewyork.us/Health/New-York-City-Leading-Causes-of-Death/jb7j-dtam
Another rough estimate for number of deaths in NYC every year,
from Quora - 1 death every 9 minutes, 158 per day, 57,000 per year
https://www.quora.com/How-many-people-die-in-New-York-every-day
So roughly 158 people die in NYC every day and 2220/100 = 22 die every day of influenza and pneumonia every day assuming a 100 day flu season.
For overall deaths there is very little seasonality. March is 108% of the average death rate for the year.
http://www.legacy.com/news/culture-and-trends/article/yes-its-true-more-people-die-in-january
90% of NYS deaths from Covid19 so far were in New York City
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/03/new-york-coronavirus-cases-updates.html
There were 100 Covid19 deaths in NYS 3-26 (and 90 yesterday) so about 90 in NYC - compared to 158 deaths from all causes on an average day and 22 deaths from flu on an average day during flu season.
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/
Therefore Covid19 is at least 4 times as deadly as the seasonal flu. And all restaurants and bars have been closed for 2 weeks. Let’s see how many die today.
Re: No vaccine for COVID-19.
Explain that to the Germans.
83 million people.
Stuffed inside an area half the size of Texas.
Just 50 miles from the COVID-19 death camp of northern Italy.
Yet, Germany has a “Case Fatality Rate” of 0.6%.
They are definitely doing something right!
Northern Italy has far more Chinese immigrants who make regular trips to China working in their apparel industry.
Well, that would be logical. On the other hand, I think data from Italy as whole indicates that cases are barely increasing at all. They seem to have crested the wave.
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