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Not necessarily, the 1918 Flu Pandemic for example mostly killed young adults rather than elderly https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_flu#Mortality https://e

by rkk3 5y ago

Not necessarily, the 1918 Flu Pandemic for example mostly killed young adults rather than elderly https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_flu#Mortality https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_flu#Mortality

DoreenMichele 5y ago
That's not what that chart says. It says "In addition to killing babies, small children and elderly, it killed an unusually large number of young adults." It creates a W shape rather a U shape. The higher figures are still the youngest and oldest.
- rkk3 5y ago
  For 1918 Flu 99% of deaths in US were people under 65 vs 24% deaths under 65 for Covid-19... "nearly half the deaths the were people 20-40" in the US, compared with 2% of deaths for Covid The chart says people less <1 or >85 were killed at a higher rate than people 25-35, but those were significantly smaller populations. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1191568/reported-deaths-from-covid-by-age-us/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/1191568/reported-deaths-...
  - DoreenMichele 5y ago
    I don't really follow where you are getting your data. The link in this comment only seems to show Covid data and no Spanish flu data (unless I'm missing something) and the Wikipedia article indicates we don't have firm numbers even for the overall death toll of the Spanish flu. It's generally true that disease preys upon the weak. That's not something that stands out to me, personally, as a special observation about the current pandemic. Of course, there are always exceptions to any rule, but I don't really know why you are engaging in this way. From my end, it looks like pedantry and it looks like pointless pedantry in this case. I don't see how it casts light on our current crisis. I'm interested in better understanding our current crisis in hopes of finding a path forward.
    - rkk3 5y ago
      > I don't really follow where you are getting your data. The link in this comment only seems to show Covid data and no Spanish flu data (unless I'm missing something) and the Wikipedia article indicates we don't have firm numbers even for the overall death toll of the Spanish flu. It's right in the cited wikipedia article. And that was a rude reply. You've made no specific claim and cited no evidence, only making broad tautological pontifications about "disease preying on the weak", when the profile of who diseases can target varies considerably like in the above example.

by rkk3 5y ago

DoreenMichele 5y ago

That's not what that chart says. It says "In addition to killing babies, small children and elderly, it killed an unusually large number of young adults." It creates a W shape rather a U shape. The higher figures are still the youngest and oldest.

rkk3 5y ago
For 1918 Flu 99% of deaths in US were people under 65 vs 24% deaths under 65 for Covid-19... "nearly half the deaths the were people 20-40" in the US, compared with 2% of deaths for Covid The chart says people less <1 or >85 were killed at a higher rate than people 25-35, but those were significantly smaller populations. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1191568/reported-deaths-from-covid-by-age-us/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/1191568/reported-deaths-...
- DoreenMichele 5y ago
  I don't really follow where you are getting your data. The link in this comment only seems to show Covid data and no Spanish flu data (unless I'm missing something) and the Wikipedia article indicates we don't have firm numbers even for the overall death toll of the Spanish flu. It's generally true that disease preys upon the weak. That's not something that stands out to me, personally, as a special observation about the current pandemic. Of course, there are always exceptions to any rule, but I don't really know why you are engaging in this way. From my end, it looks like pedantry and it looks like pointless pedantry in this case. I don't see how it casts light on our current crisis. I'm interested in better understanding our current crisis in hopes of finding a path forward.
  - rkk3 5y ago
    > I don't really follow where you are getting your data. The link in this comment only seems to show Covid data and no Spanish flu data (unless I'm missing something) and the Wikipedia article indicates we don't have firm numbers even for the overall death toll of the Spanish flu. It's right in the cited wikipedia article. And that was a rude reply. You've made no specific claim and cited no evidence, only making broad tautological pontifications about "disease preying on the weak", when the profile of who diseases can target varies considerably like in the above example.