Quote:
Originally Posted by Audiophilehi
I say yes! The media is blowing this way out of proportion. I would be more concerned about influenza. Yet the media says nothing about this.
So far, the CDC has estimated (based on weekly influenza surveillance data) that at least 12,000 people have died from influenza between Oct. 1, 2019 through Feb. 1, 2020, and the number of deaths may be as high as 30,000.
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Below are a few points of difference between Covid-19 and seasonal flu from the World Health Organization. As I understand it, although there are, of course, fewer deaths so far, this thing is just getting started and could cause far higher numbers of deaths if (or when) it really gets rolling, and it’s picking up speed quickly. So while the risk of catching it in an area that hasn’t seen significant activity may be low right now, this will likely change, and if you do catch it, the risk of death is much higher, especially if you’re older (like a majority of audiophiles?) or have underlying health issues. The key is the more we do now to contain it, the better chance we have of having it cause fewer deaths.
“...COVID-19 causes more severe disease than seasonal influenza.
While many people globally have built up immunity to seasonal flu strains, COVID-19 is a new virus to which no one has immunity. That means more people are susceptible to infection, and some will suffer severe disease. Globally, about 3.4% of reported COVID-19 cases have died. By comparison, seasonal flu generally kills far fewer than 1% of those infected.
...we have vaccines and therapeutics for seasonal flu, but at the moment there is no vaccine and no specific treatment for COVID-19.
...we don’t even talk about containment for seasonal flu – it’s just not possible. But it is possible for COVID-19. We don’t do contact tracing for seasonal flu – but countries should do it for COVID-19, because it will prevent infections and save lives.”