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Across every age group (except children) Covid is roughly 5x to 10x deadlier than the seasonal flu. It also spreads faster (higher reproductive number), is much

Across every age group (except children) Covid is roughly 5x to 10x deadlier than the seasonal flu. It also spreads faster (higher reproductive number), is much more often spread by asymptomatic/presymptomatic people, and nobody has any apparent pre-existing immunity. (And the seasonal flu is a serious deadly disease which stresses hospital systems every year, not some joke. Even if Covid were only as bad as the flu, it would still be a real threat.) The method used to estimate flu deaths every year is far more expansive than the method used for confirmed Covid deaths. One interesting thing to see is that the social reactions vs. Covid have radically reduced the amount of flu spread this year vs. previous years.

otabdeveloper4 6y ago
> Across every age group (except children) Covid is roughly 5x to 10x deadlier than the flu. Two points: a) 'Flu' is a different disease than respiratory viral diseases. (A.k.a. "common colds".) Covid is a kind of respiratory viral disease. b) "Common colds" are also deadly and cause a huge number of deaths each year. They just get classified as deaths from stroke or heart attack, not the common cold: https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=does%20the%20common%20cold%20cause%20strokes https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=does%20the%20common%20... So counting mortality rates is not a simple issue and depends a lot on cultural factors, political incentives, etc.