Quote:
Originally Posted by Choro&Swing
38 million to 54 million flu illnesses this season.
18 million to 26 million medical visits for flu this season.
400 thousand to 730 thousand hospitalizations for flu this season.
24 thousand to 64 thousand deaths from the flu this season.
By contrast, the current count of Coronavirus cases in the U.S., as of this moment, is 105 THOUSAND, with under 1,800 deaths. This disease has the possibility of being gigantic, and certainly it is leading to problems at hospitals in a few cities, but it may also end up being a relative flash in the pan compared to what the flu does yearly. Wouldn’t that be terrific?
Why are we in panic mode? Primarily television news, whatever your favorite channel may be. For example, I get my weather news from a very accurate source called WeatherUnderground.com. Say there’s snow in the forecast in New York City. Weather Underground says 1-3”. The television weather people say “This could be the worst storm ever for this date! Experts say we could get as much as 18” of snow! Emergency teams are getting ready! Stay home, whatever you do! Stay tuned for more storm information after these local advertisements that are going to bring us many thousands of dollars!” And New York gets 1” of snow. Weather Underground was right. Do the television news teams offer a profound apology? No way!
What I’m saying is that rumors of epidemics and storms and terrorist events keep people glued to the news channels, so the television news gives us what we want in order to maximize profits, even if what they tell is is highly exaggerated.
...He said her daughter (his grand-daughter) had called, sobbing, because she had just driven my sister to the emergency room of a local hospital, and she had been explaining where to find her will and her passwords and who to call when she died...My sister’s symptoms were a running and clogged up nose, a fever, a wet cough, and body aches...The emergency room nurse said she had a heavy cold or a mild case of the flu.
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Great post, ChoroSwing (excerpted here). Perfect example of how terrified some people are. And I couldn't agree with you more that TV news shows are to blame. That's right - "they give the people what they want" so they'll continue to watch the advertisements. But
that raises the question, why do people want to be frightened? Are we that starved for entertainment? The grossly exaggerated weather reports you cite are a classic example. Hurricane coverage is another. I for one refuse to be manipulated by TV news so I don't watch it. Ever. I get news from other less sensationalistic sources.
All that said---(Other posters please note I'm stating this up front so no need to lecture this info back at me.) The fatality rate of Covid-19 is much higher than the flu and way more contagious, so we do need to take common sense precautions. I did some quick calculations from the posted data and flu's lethality rate using both ranges is way less than 1%. It appears, for now anyway, Covid's is somewhere around 3%. Granted the Covid statistic could adjust downward quite a bit as more and more people are tested.