Health Officials Say You Can’t Compare Flu and COVID Deaths

re: Health Officials Say You Can’t Compare Flu and COVID Deaths

lenny084 — 5/17/2020 11:18:36 PM

Pulling figures from everywhere and all types of deaths to wrack up their coded tally to scare the population into another dangerous vaccine ?

re: Health Officials Say You Can’t Compare Flu and COVID Deaths

Brian1 — 5/17/2020 2:24:41 AM

Since we often confuse the common cold and the seasonal flu, comparing COVID-19 to the latter can make us underestimate its severity. The cold is often mild while the flu leads to aches, fever, coughs, and fatigue. After the age of 30, we get the flu about once every few years while we may get multiple colds each year.

Because we're doing physical distancing, flu cases seem to be decreasing according to the news.

re: Health Officials Say You Can’t Compare Flu and COVID Deaths

swdhj1 — 5/16/2020 7:56:25 AM

The primary issue with comparing COVID-19 and flu deaths is that it ignores the different age distribution of deaths. There are a lot of flu deaths across all age groups, including infants whereas COVID-19 deaths are highly concentrated for folks over age 80. To do a fair comparison, we should measure premature deaths, in total person-years. So for a given fatality, subtract age of death from life expectancy at death. For example, a 92-yr old may have a life expectancy of 1 year (if this this person had not died from COVID-19 this year, he might have died from complications from a hip fracture from a fall or some other cause the following year). So 1 life-year. But an infant would have a life expectancy of 79, so 78 life-years.

re: Health Officials Say You Can’t Compare Flu and COVID Deaths

Almond — 5/16/2020 2:08:44 AM

If COVID-19 is so contagious and lethal, why has the total mortality rate, in the US, from all causes, remained stable? Obviously, an unusually large number of deaths from other causes must be attributed to COVID. We hear about deaths on the news. But why have they not affected the overall mortality rate if this is such a serious and life-threatening problem? The numbers do not add up to what we are being told.