Notice that the flu was killing far more people than the virus until the end of March and that the flu is still killing more people than the virus in some areas. And it is also important to note that the criteria to define a death as 'Covid related' is very broad.
A big part of the reason for the virus' rapid spread is because most of those infected (60% to 80%) show little to no symptoms. Compare that to the flu. And the mortality rate is not level across all ethnicities. But if you are a white middle aged person with no underlying health issues, the mortality rate is well below 1%. Just how far below may never be known because of inadequate testing and selection bias.
I am really confused, there are currently 56,000+ dead in in the US alone 6 weeks, and we are debating the fatality percentages in single digits?
I fail to see how this matters, I thought most thought EVERY SINGLE life was important, and mattered, not percentages? Why is it important, other then reducing the death toll to zero?
Confused, huh? And you really don't know why the mortality rate matters?
Because the United States economy has been thrown into reverse. They are printing money faster than ever before which devalues ALL of the money already in circulation. Because people's financial lives are being destroyed. Suicides and domestic emergencies are rising. And on and on.............
You readily accept this 56,000 number that is being thrown around without having any idea how that number was arrived at. That is the point of the two links. This virus does kill people and there are certainly those that should take pertinent precautions, same as any bad flu season. But the data that is coming in does not show that this virus presents enough of a danger to enough of the population at large to justify the very real damage that is being done.
Stop and think for a moment what is going to happen if the United States is all but shut down every time a virus or influenza comes along that can kill less than 1% of the population. That scenario would play out every couple of years because there have recently been several flues that were just as virulent as this virus, if not even more so.
That is why the real data matters and is important.
Yup, now I am confused why you think it matters to need to debate the death rate.
Your above reasoning just seems very self centered, it's rather common nowadays.
Never said it was not important, or inconsequential, bur debating it at minute percentage accuracy rates, when over 50K have died, is rather callous, IMO.
And if you still are passing this event off as another "flu season", we have diametrically opposed value systems, and I have little confusion about that..
Attacking me as self centered is a non-starter. We are classified as an 'essential' business and are running slower than usual, but no big deal. We are not applying for loans or anything like that, so continuing the lock down doesn't have the impact on us that it is having on so many others.
Your blind acceptance of the HUGE number of people reported to have succumbed to this virus is YOUR problem. As I said before, the reason for the links I posted is to show that there is debate as to how the numbers are calculated.
Figures don't lie, but liars figure.
The REAL numbers matter. The decimal points are the difference between everyone going to work and play, and everyone sheltering in place while they risk loosing much of what they have worked for. You have wrapped your mind around the 50,000 number. What if the real number was half that? Would you still destroy the economy in response?
According to the CDC, "While the impact of flu varies, it places a substantial burden on the health of people in the United States each year. CDC estimates that influenza has resulted in between 9 million – 45 million illnesses, between 140,000 – 810,000 hospitalizations and between 12,000 – 61,000 deaths annually since 2010." https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/index.html
Even with the likely inflated morbidity rate of this Coronavirus, it has not yet reached the level of some recent flu years. Why didn't we shut the country down then? Why is it wrong to debate at what point we should all huddle in our homes, scared to go out in the public?
I'll ask again, what will happen to us and our economy and our country if we from now on shut America down anytime a flu or virus kills anywhere near 1% of those infected? That already happens every few years. And you are afraid to even consider those consequences.
