The common figure for the regular flu is in excess of 30,000. But that too is an estimate. Impractical to test every or even a large fraction of deaths for the flu. What is done is normal moratality is plotted against mortality during the flu season.
But there is no doubt this flu is a killer. The stats are in for the Southern Hemisphere. Median age of death in Australia was 58. Normal flu is 81. Patients had to be airlifted because the country didn't have enough ECMO machines (some patients lungs were so full of snot they could not be put on mechanical ventilation lest their lungs explode--they needed an artifical lung...sometimes for weeks).
The fact is the death toll is being downplayed by the media because Obama and HSS botched vaccine deliveries. CT was supposed to get half a million doses by the end of Oct. It got 180,000. Imagine if Bush were president now. The media and liberals would be howling in rage.
I tend to agree with your assessment. I don't think this is anythings remotely close to 1918, but it's MUCH worse than SARS ever hoped to be. And, think of the pandemonium surrounding that debacle. The media is covering for Obama.
That 36,000 number of regular flu deaths per year was way wrong and it served the purpose of stopping panic with the Mexican outbreak.
The real number is not really known; CDC’s data collection is poor. But it was estimated to be at 10k to 15k when the spin cycle was over and the truth came out.