[Tired of Taxes]

Note that a shortage of supplies might've caused the severity that year:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017%E2%80%9318_United_States_flu_season

In January 2018, The Atlantic also noted that the severity of the flu season in the United States may have been increased by a shortage of IV bags in hospitals. The shortage resulted from the Hurricane Maria blackout in Puerto Rico, where a great many medical supplies are manufactured.

And yet, still, out of 45 million flu illnesses that year, if 80,000 died, then the death rate was 0.2%.

In comparison, if the death rate for COVID19 remains at 1.4% in the U.S., then 630,000 people would die. And, if our hospitals are running low on supplies, that death rate may increase, just like Italy's.

No, that doesn't mean the country should be shut down completely. It doesn't mean a $2T stimulus package should be passed. But, come on, COVID19 is worse than influenza.

[Vendome]

Yeah!

And we shut the country down then too..../s

[Tired of Taxes]

Just to be clear:

And yet, still, out of 45 million flu illnesses that year, if 80,000 died, then the death rate was 0.2%.

In comparison, if the death rate for COVID19 remains at 1.4% in the U.S., with the same number of illnesses (45 million), then 630,000 people would die.

[Ymani Cricket]

Didn’t we recently discover a bunch of supplies cached away in Puerto Rico? Is that where all the IV bags went?

[rb22982]

You are not using comparable numbers. The confirmed death rate (confirmed deaths / confirmed cases) is not the same as the actual death rate (confirmed deaths / (confirmed cases + mild cases + people who get it but show no symptoms)). The 1.4% is the first one, the 0.1% is the second one. The CDR of the flu is higher than 1.4%, for example

[frogjerk]

And yet, still, out of 45 million flu illnesses that year, if 80,000 died, then the death rate was 0.2%. In comparison, if the death rate for COVID19 remains at 1.4% in the U.S., then 630,000 people would die. And, if our hospitals are running low on supplies, that death rate may increase, just like Italy's.

There were 45 million CONFIRMED cases of the flu? You are comparing apples to oranges if you are using estimates.

[daniel1212]

In comparison, if the death rate for COVID19 remains at 1.4% in the U.S., then 630,000 people would die. And, if our hospitals are running low on supplies, that death rate may increase, just like Italy's.

How can the death rate be 1.4% when as Fivethirtyeight.com reports, "the most recent survey, taken on March 16 and 17, found that, as a group, the experts think that as of March 15, only 12 percent of infections in the U.S. had been reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention," and the Guardian states that an est. 80% of the infected need no outside medical care, while the NY Times opines that the United States may already have 100,000 infected citizens.

What is the death rate of 471 out of 100,000?

Note that the 80k flu deaths (which the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases also provides) is also an estimate, while the number of those infected is likely higher.