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Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 6,120
Registered: ‎03-29-2019

Re: Explain to me why?

[ Edited ]

Here's how I look at it.

 

 

 

 

is Covid deadly?

 

Yes.

 

 

Over 1,400 so far.

 

 

Did I have an anxiety attack about it one night?

 

 

Yes.

 

 

I did.

 

 

 

 

 

Am I staying home?

 

Yes.

 

 

 

 

I am.

 

 

 

 

 

BUT

 

 

There is a 97% chance that if you do get it, you'll recover.

 

 

 

97.

 

 

 

 

 

 

(or close to that number)

 

 

 

 

 

 

That's like going to Vegas, and finding that there is a 97% chance that you're going to win!

 

 

 

I like those odds!

 

 

 

 

So that's  the positive that *I* focus on.

 

 

 

The Sky looks different when you have someone you love up there.
Honored Contributor
Posts: 13,989
Registered: ‎11-16-2014

@goldensrbest wrote:

I have seen post that get upset with some comparing the deaths of the flu this year,to this virus, why is that?


@goldensrbest, I read an excellent response on SuzyQ3's recent thread from dooBdoo that explained why this virus should not be compared to the flu. I like the fact that her response was based on facts and not conjecture..

___________________________________________

Thank you, @PA Mom-mom. This virus is much different than our annual flu in ways that make it far more frightening.

 

 

            Yes, @suzyQ3.   It's important not to try and compare this new COVID-19 with seasonal flu.   I was listening to Dr. Anthony Fauci interviewed and he said that COVID-19 is much more highly transmissible and has a high degree of mortality, morbidity.   The growth rate has been rapid, too.   We have to look at growth rate, death rate, and look at it exponentially rather than linearly.   I think this website does a good job of explaining this:

 

https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus

 

This part of the site has their charts, maps, visualizations (in some cases these are more helpful -- for me -- than just reading the explanations):

 

https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-data

 

Respected Contributor
Posts: 2,144
Registered: ‎11-21-2011

Probably because we had a ton of politicians talk like that before. Governor Cuomo said just 21 days ago not to panic and the real problem was the flu.

 

Plus when they say over and over that we need to save every life that probably starts to ring a bit hollow. The lives lost during the regular flu season don't seem to matter as much. And I think of all the people who lost someone to H1N1 wondering why all the stops weren't pulled out.

 

The truth here is that eventually things will go back to normal and people will continue to die of this. The entire point of what's happening here is the hospital system. If it gets completely overrun then that means a lot of people dying. Once we hit a point where we think the hospitals can handle the number of patients then it will be much less about saving one life or five.Those deaths will be considered the same way we concider flu deaths.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 79,467
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

@goldensrbest wrote:

I have seen post that get upset with some comparing the deaths of the flu this year,to this virus, why is that?


@goldensrbest    I haven't seen such posts.  Where?  Kind of pointless to discuss it even if it happened.

New Mexico☀️Land Of Enchantment
Trusted Contributor
Posts: 1,309
Registered: ‎12-01-2012

 


@Kachina624 wrote:

@goldensrbest wrote:

I have seen post that get upset with some comparing the deaths of the flu this year,to this virus, why is that?


@goldensrbest    I haven't seen such posts.  Where?  Kind of pointless to discuss it even if it happened.

 

 

 


I've been following along the last couple of weeks, and I, for one, have seen such posts.

 

I understand that technically, calling it the "flu" is incorrect, the same way that calling gastroenteritis the "flu" is also incorrect.  "Flu" is short for influenza, the actual correct term, but "flu" has in reality become a catchall term.

 

COVID 19 symptoms sound similar to those of influenza.  Both present as an upper respiratory infection with possible deadly complications such as pneumonia.  It is a "new" virus so there is no known immunity to it anywhere.

 

Do we feel safer with the old familiar flu virus, which even though hundreds of thousands of vaccines are given each year, still claims so many lives - due to complications?

 

COVID 19 is a corona virus.  The common cold is also a corona virus.  So calling it an influenza virus is not correct.  It would be almost be more correct to call it a "cold" virus.  

 

But since flu is a more serious illness than the common cold, I don't think comparing COVID 19 to the flu is anything to get upset about.  Certainly more like the flu than that other corona virus. 

 

 

 

 

Respected Contributor
Posts: 3,922
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

@Isobel Archer wrote:

I'll tell you why I compare.  According to CDC - 80,000 people died last year of seasonal flu - mostly from pneumonia, heart attack and stroke.  Most were hospitalized.  And I am sure that many who did not die were also hospitalized.

 

Yet - we did NOT deny care to other very sick people - as in canceling radiation and  chemo treatments for cancer patients, postpone surgeries, etc. etc.

 

Nor did we run out of beds or have emergency rooms overrun with people demanding to be tested for flu - even if they weren't yet sick.

 

Currently, we have had less than 1500 people die of this virus. We had 12,000 die of H1N1 before we got concerned about that.   All deaths are tragic - but so is denying care to cancer patients.

 

Even if you said that the flu season last year was 10 months - which would be very generous, that would be 8,000 people a month dying.  We are nowhere near that and despite all the original hype of "millions will die" (which now both Dr. Fauci and Dr. Birks are walking back - well maybe the projections were worse than what we will actually experience) - we have a very very long way to go to even have the same number of deaths as died from seasonal flu.

 

 

 

 


This is false (the response, not the number of deaths), as can be verified on any number of fact-checking sites.

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 7,389
Registered: ‎03-27-2012

@stevieb wrote:

My thinking is that some are so beyond obsessed with this situation that it's all they seem to want to think about or discuss. It weighs on all of our minds, how could it not, but for some, it seems to have overtaken their entire thought processes. While the two illnesses are not alike, there are similarities and it shouldn't be unheard of to mention them in the same breath.


I completely agree. It's funny because last night I was reading a comment from someone who seemed so distraught that anyone would dare compare the two and at the exact time I was reading it Dr. Fauci was on Anderson Cooper and guess what he was comparing? You got it--coronavirus and influenza. 

 

Comparing something is completely different than saying two things are exactly alike. Comparing means to measure the similarities as well as the differences. Heck, we could compare coronavirus to lasagna if we were so inclined, lol. By comparison, it's my opinion that lasagna makes a far more delightful meal. Smiley Very Happy

Honored Contributor
Posts: 12,542
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

They are both viruses as opposed to illnesses caused by bacteria. Bacteria is fought with antibiotics which are not effective against virus. So, while we now have super bugs that are resistant to antibiotics, they can still be used against bacteria infections. Vaccines are the best defense against viruses and there are none against Corona.

Respected Contributor
Posts: 2,615
Registered: ‎03-21-2017

@Anonymous032819 wrote:

Here's how I look at it.

 

 

 

 

is Covid deadly?

 

Yes.

 

 

Over 1,400 so far.

 

 

Did I have an anxiety attack about it one night?

 

 

Yes.

 

 

I did.

 

 

 

 

 

Am I staying home?

 

Yes.

 

 

 

 

I am.

 

 

 

 

 

BUT

 

 

There is a 97% chance that if you do get it, you'll recover.

 

 

 

97.

 

 

 

 

 

 

(or close to that number)

 

 

 

 

 

 

That's like going to Vegas, and finding that there is a 97% chance that you're going to win!

 

 

 

I like those odds!

 

 

 

 

So that's  the positive that *I* focus on.

 

 

 


@Anonymous032819 

That's exactly the point.  If you get the seasonal flu, you have a  99.9 % chance that you'll recover.  Which one is better?

Valued Contributor
Posts: 640
Registered: ‎03-15-2010
My sister who works in the medical field says you can't just compare numbers between influenza and the coronavirus. Flu season is spread out over about six months, and occurs at differing times of the year throughout the world. The issue is with the short time window that the coronavirus is spreading, not just worldwide but within particular areas. The number of cases in such a short time period has the potential to cripple the healthcare system, both in terms of supplies and personnel. That is why we have to social distance and self-isolate in an attempt to flatten the outbreak speed and not have it spike.