48 ms·

None of those links actually cite the mortality rate of covid vs the flu

mschuster91 1y ago
The first one is sufficient to counter the completely unsubstantiated claim of the common cold/influenza being more dangerous than Covid, but I do agree that handing out exact numbers would have been better.
- terminalshort 1y ago
  It isn't remotely sufficient. It cherry picks the first few years of COVID. Of course more people died because it's a novel virus. If you somehow genetically engineered an exact clone of the flu virus in every way except with it was completely novel to the immune system and released it, of course way more people would die of it in the first year.
  - mschuster91 1y ago
    > It cherry picks the first few years of COVID. The original post this thread is about literally referred to these early years: > 2020-2022 mandatory COVID vaccine ID, to be able travel and enter establishments Claiming in this context that the common cold is more harmful is a lie, no matter what.
    - terminalshort 1y ago
      Yeah, the common cold statement is just wrong. Also COVID is actually more deadly than the flu by about 3x from what I have read when it adjusts for all the relevant factors. The problem I have with the whole thing is that the media and government whipped everyone up into a panic over it. If you said to people, "there's a virus 3x as bad as the flu, what should we do?" I thik very few would say "lockdown everything non-essential."
      - n4r9 1y ago
        So? Few people think things through systematically. Most countries would have desperately struggled to accommodate the increased demand on ICUs and skilled staff care. In fact, despite lockdowns and the provision of Nightingale facilities in the UK, the NHS was often overwhelmed as infections periodically peaked. We're still suffering the ongoing effects of urgent care that could not be provided in a timely fashion as resources got diverted due to Covid. See e.g. https://www.bmj.com/content/385/bmj-2023-075613 https://www.bmj.com/content/385/bmj-2023-075613 I shudder to think what would happen if we hadn't locked down.

The first one is sufficient to counter the completely unsubstantiated claim of the common cold/influenza being more dangerous than Covid, but I do agree that handing out exact numbers would have been better.

terminalshort 1y ago
It isn't remotely sufficient. It cherry picks the first few years of COVID. Of course more people died because it's a novel virus. If you somehow genetically engineered an exact clone of the flu virus in every way except with it was completely novel to the immune system and released it, of course way more people would die of it in the first year.
- mschuster91 1y ago
  > It cherry picks the first few years of COVID. The original post this thread is about literally referred to these early years: > 2020-2022 mandatory COVID vaccine ID, to be able travel and enter establishments Claiming in this context that the common cold is more harmful is a lie, no matter what.
  - terminalshort 1y ago
    Yeah, the common cold statement is just wrong. Also COVID is actually more deadly than the flu by about 3x from what I have read when it adjusts for all the relevant factors. The problem I have with the whole thing is that the media and government whipped everyone up into a panic over it. If you said to people, "there's a virus 3x as bad as the flu, what should we do?" I thik very few would say "lockdown everything non-essential."
    - n4r9 1y ago
      So? Few people think things through systematically. Most countries would have desperately struggled to accommodate the increased demand on ICUs and skilled staff care. In fact, despite lockdowns and the provision of Nightingale facilities in the UK, the NHS was often overwhelmed as infections periodically peaked. We're still suffering the ongoing effects of urgent care that could not be provided in a timely fashion as resources got diverted due to Covid. See e.g. https://www.bmj.com/content/385/bmj-2023-075613 https://www.bmj.com/content/385/bmj-2023-075613 I shudder to think what would happen if we hadn't locked down.