The 2017-2018 flu season had 61,000 deaths in the US; not over 100,000. 2011-2012 it was just 12,000 flu deaths. Average since 2010 is 37,000 flu deaths in the US per year. https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/index.html
Also, there was no Influenza pandemic in 1965. I think you’re thinking of the 1968 Influenza Pandemic, which was known as the Hong Kong flu. During the 1968-1969 season, it killed about 100,000 in the US over the course of about 18 months. (https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resources/1968-pandemic.html)
You might also be thinking of the Asian flu, which was active in 1957-1958 and killed about 116,000 in the US. (https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resources/1957-1958-pandemic.html)
Important to note a couple things: these are extremely deadly outliers. Influenza kills around 37,000 in the US each year on average. Once in a while, something particularly deadly shows up, but seasonal flu usually kills fewer than 40,000 in a whole year. And that’s the other point. Asian flu killed about 116,000 over the course of about a year, or about 9,667 people per month over that period of time. Hong Kong flu killed about 100,000 over the course of about 18 months, or about 5,556 Americans per month over the course of its run. SARS-CoV-2 has killed 114,000 Americans in 3 months (38,000 per month during that time) and is ongoing. In other words, it’s killed 3 years worth of seasonal flus in 3 months.
If you looked at the death totals for Asian flu after just 3 months, you wouldn’t think it was anything notable either. Judge its impact from start to finish; don’t look at it 1/4-1/8th of the way through and say “well that was nothing”.
Thank you for being a voice of reason and common sense.
Well said. People also need to keep in mind that what we did (the shutdown) did statistically save a lot of lives - irrespective of the politicians each trying to one up another. Comparing the deaths we had in just three months with an entire flu seasons worth isn’t showing your math story problem skills very well.