[cameldrv]

"The current death rate of COVID in the US is about what a bad flu season would be."

Currently 2000 people a day are dying in the U.S. from COVID. That's an annualized rate of 730,000 deaths per year. The CDC estimates that the worst flu season in the last 10 years was 2017-2018 and that Flu caused 52,000 deaths.

That puts the current death rate of COVID at 14x where a bad flu season would be.

Perhaps it is his judgment that the level of attention COVID is getting is still not warranted, but one must start with the basic facts correct in order to make this judgment.

[rob_c]

and the definition of a covid death is rather liberal compared to a flu death with no underlying conditions... the whole mess is political

[cameldrv]

I can't say precisely how these deaths are defined. I can say that I know several people personally who have died of COVID just in the past month. I can't ever remember anyone I know dying of the Flu.

[rob_c]

I'm not questioning this. But unfortunately it is by definition anecdotal. I know 3 over 90s who are still going, and a mix of expose risk and health status. I'm sorry for your loss.

[cameldrv]

Yes, I also know a ton of people who didn't die from it. That does not change the fact that COVID is much more lethal than the flu, which was the original claim to justify the article.

[rob_c]

again, as per my comment, you cannot make this assessment based on bad data, please stop insisting on it.

In the UK(Eng+Wales) it has killed <13k total with no underlying conditions as reported by the ONS. https://www.ons.gov.uk/aboutus/transparencyandgovernance/fre... This alone should worry people!

The total kill count is supposed to be 100x this which is a heck of a disparity, and shows there is something bad about the data.

[cameldrv]

The data for flu is not “with no underlying conditions.” Something like 70% of the u.s. has an “underlying condition.” You’re distorting the statistics to promote an agenda.