Re: “The disease is not a nothing-burger - and no I don't support totalitarian lock-downs.”
I agree with you - COVID-19 is a severe common cold virus that has killed thousands of the elderly and the infirm.
However - is it more deadly than a severe influenza virus, like the one that killed 61,000 Americans in 2018?
In my opinion - no.
The total number of “Deaths-All Causes” in the first 18 weeks of 2020 is only 14,000 deaths higher than 2018.
If the CDC counted influenza deaths with the same fraudulent method that it counts COVID deaths, influenza deaths would be much higher than COVID deaths.
COVID-19 is a severe common cold virus that has killed thousands of the elderly and the infirm. ...However - is it more deadly than a severe influenza virus, like the one that killed 61,000 Americans in 2018?
This plot shows weekly deaths historically and for the current year. If you look at the US plot, in mid-April it was showing 30,800 deaths per week above the mean per week for the previous several years. That is not inconsistent with the 90,000 total deaths to even date attributed to Coronavirus.
90,000 deaths out of 1.5M confirmed cases is a 6% mortality rate. 1.5M confirmed out of 12M tests puts the lie to the notion that there is a large factor of undetected infected individuals.
So it's not just the common cold, or the flu.
But I don't support lockdowns.