The Flu Has Killed 10,000 Americans As The World Worries Over Coronavirus

Yahoo News ^ | 2-6-2020 | Rachel Bender

[blam]

Whether you’re watching TV or reading the news, you’d be hard-pressed to avoid a story about coronavirus. And it’s no wonder, since the outbreak — which now affects more than 27 countries outside of China, where the Wuhan coronavirus originated — has been declared a global health emergency by the World Health Organization (WHO).

But there’s another major health threat that seems to be getting lost in the fray: the flu. An estimated 19 million Americans have been infected with the flu so far this season, and 180,000 of them have been hospitalized because of the illness, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The flu virus has already killed an estimated 10,000 people across the U.S., including 68 children, according to the CDC. In fact, the 2019-2020 flu season is shaping up to be one of the worst in years.

In contrast, the Wuhan coronavirus has infected more than 28,000 people and killed 565, according to data gathered by Johns Hopkins University.

While Iahn Gonsenhauser, MD, chief quality and patient safety officer at Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, tells Yahoo Lifestyle that it’s still too early to classify how virulent the novel coronavirus strain is, he notes that we’re already facing “an epidemic of panic.”

However, “flu is by far the thing we should be worried about because it’s the thing we’re more likely to encounter,” Gonsenhauser says. “If you’re a child, elderly, frail, or have COPD or heart failure, your risk of mortality is actually pretty high with the flu. Your risk of coronavirus— it’s 12 cases in the U.S. — you’re pretty unlikely to come into contact with them.”

One of the reasons why coronavirus is garnering much more attention than the flu has to do with

(snip)

[Artcore]

But, but, but...

[TADSLOS]

Quick! Throw mo’ money at WHO and NIH!!

[cba123]

Not sure you are correct, we will see.

[a fool in paradise]

Quick stop talking about Hong Kong protesters and congressional impeachment

[Berlin_Freeper]

I had a girl friend who actually called for Last Rites because she had such bad flu.
We were called back and I canceled it.
You never know how close you are.
She got better.

[11th_VA]

I remember when AIDs had just become a ‘thing’. A military doctor came to talk to our unit and said, “Everyone look around you, one out of every five of you are going to die from AIDS”; such BS ... (AIDS was 99.99999% preventable)

This virus can go wherever it wills - and you’ll never know until you’re infected and showing symptoms

[null and void]

To be fair, it did have a head start...

Bring Out Your Dead

Post to me or FReep mail to be on/off the Bring Out Your Dead ping list.

The purpose of the “Bring Out Your Dead” ping list (formerly the “Ebola” ping list) is very early warning of emerging pandemics, as such it has a high false positive rate.

So far the false positive rate is 100%.

At some point we may well have a high mortality pandemic, and likely as not the “Bring Out Your Dead” threads will miss the beginning entirely.

*sigh* Such is life, and death...

If a quarantine saves just one child's life, it's worth it.

[Dogbert41]

Anyone ever seen China react to a virus like the way they are now? And since when has China told us the truth about a damned thing?

[kaehurowing]

This is such BS. Coronavirus is 100 times more deadly, it just hasn’t had the chance to kill thousands yet, but it is quickly getting there and the scary thought is it could end up in the millions.

[Oscar in Batangas]

But those j⅞~10,000 deaths were caused by the 'good flu' Media have to worry about the one or two deaths that were caused by the 'bad flu' or they're won't get their headlines

[Maudeen]

And not to mention the numbers who have died from taking the flu shot. It certainly hasn't kept especially the elderly from getting the flu. Even physicians are sick and cancelling appointments. Two friends of mine had appointments cancelled by two different doctors in two different towns.

[Jane Long]

yahoo *news*....lol.

[dynoman]

Flu deaths are actually as high as 61k/yr in the US alone.

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

[Vermont Lt]

I hate to use bad words, but someone has to be reta....mentally challenged not to realize this not the flu.

Stop comparing it to the flu. It surpassed SARs in short order.

I am not saying it’s the apocalypse. I am not running out and paying $50 for masks (I already had them.).

What I am saying is there is smoke on the horizon. You can ignore or you can ride out and take a look.

[11th_VA]

it just hasn’t had the chance to kill thousands yet, but it is quickly getting there and the scary thought is it could end up in the millions.

My feelings as well - this thing is going to spread slowly, city to city, person to person; let’s give it another month or so, to see how far it’s spread

[Nifster]

US death rates for flu caused deaths always run between 15,000 and 35,000

[kaehurowing]

The flu has killed 10,000, this says.

The death rate from corona virus if it is what they say, will be at least 380,000 deaths if it infects the same number of people as the flu.

[Stingray51]

A couple thoughts:
1) The Coronavirus is a disease that is in addition to the annual “ordinary” flu. So it is not one or the other.
2) If credible-seeming reports out of China are accurate, the Chinese government is massively lying about the extent of the outbreak (and why would we expect them to tell the truth). Chinese people get seasonal flu also so this is an enormous problem that is on top of that. The WHO figures you cite are almost certainly a fraction of the real figures.
3) Still, the human mind is ill-suited to handle statistics. Whether it is school shootings or shark attacks or even domestic terror attacks, we tend to get led by the nose to embrace the latest panic and ignore the real dangers. The regular flu kills a lot of people but the scary top line numbers are not adjusted for the fact that it largely kills the old and already infirm. I would say be careful driving, make sure your kids are not hit by a car, that kind of thing are probably a lot more important statistically.
4) All that said, this would be a good time to separate ourselves from Red China. From their crappy goods, their slave labor, their spying students and researchers.... when they join the civilized world with labor standards & democracy, and stop eating bats and other oddball gross stuff, maybe reconsider....

[calenel]

This season, the flu has killed 10,000 dead out of 19,000,000. 0.05%. Lower than the usual 0.1%. The flu has a reservoir of hosts in the general populace at any time of millions, so we know what to expect, year after year.

The Wu Han Virus has killed only 638 out of some 31,372 confirmed cases (based on the CCP’s questionable numbers, but we’ll go with those for now). 2.0%. Of the resolved cases, 29% have died and 71% have recovered. There is no reservoir of hosts, every case is new exposure.

This is no joke. Be vigilant. Make sure you and your family have supplies and can hunker down in your house for a month. Or longer. Don’t panic, but don’t make light of the situation.