Given that Cornavirus seems to kill more people over 70 and (89% of victims in Lombardia were reported as in the over 75 category-albeit that is old data) than all the other age groups combined and the fact that flu also kills a higher proportion of older people, I suspect the main difference is that there is a vaccine for flu which, whilst less effective for older people due to their less efficient immune system does, nevertheless, reduce the numbers that die. If there was no vaccine for flu I am not sure it would be much less deadly than Coronavirus is and might well spread just as quickly.
Still not true and it doesn’t matter how often you post that, it won’t make it true. The big deference is the transmission rate Some of us have been posting this repeatedly, but many keep ignoring it for whatever reason. if it was transmitted at the same rate as flu, we wouldn’t be predicting the same amount of deaths and building temporary hospitals. and whilst the majority of deaths will be the same as with flu, there are deaths of young healthy people, which I’m not aware of with seasonal flu.
Yes but isnt that BECAUSE many people are immune or have been vaccinated for flu. Like the stat the other week with 1 person infecting 2.5 people every 5 days. less people transmitting virus or am I misunderstanding the terminology. BTW I am not saying this pandemic is in any way comparable to an annual winter flu epidemic. That is clearly wrong but my post about vaccination for flu vs no vaccine for Corona virus was the whole point. EDIT: To remove any confusion from this post I am not saying Covid is more or less virulent than winter Flu but the flu virus has a harder time finding a vulnerable host to infect since many people are vaccinated and many have already had it so the antibodies take care of it. Not so with Coronavirus so we are comparing apples with pears when looking at the transmission rates. Also I have to disgree with the assertion that winter flu does not kill younger people. I am afraid it does but , like Covid oldfer people are more likely to succumb.
I haven't ignored anything. you keep repeating the rubbish that young people don't die from flu. They do. They just do. Four thousand five hundred and nine under 65s were killed by flu in the UK in the last five years despite roughly 13 to 14 million people being vaccinated. 29 CHILDREN died of flu in England in the last two years. England not the UK Why don't as many people catch flu? Probably because last winter we vaccinated nearly 14 MILLION people from 6 months old upwards to reduce the rate of transmission. In essence every year we attempt to create herd immunity amongst the population. Why do that if it isn't serious and isn't easily transmitted? Its only been kept to a mere 78,000 deaths in England alone in the last five years because we offer vaccines to 26 million people each and every year. We didn't care enough to wash our hands when seventy eight thousand people were put in a box due to flu in the England (note I said England not the UK) did we.
End of the day everyone is right flu should have been taken more seriously and coronavirus is more deadly. Let's all agree that going forward we all make sure governments put more money into public health. Those who can work from home and enjoy it, keep it that way. Let's make our working lives more enjoyable, flexible, less stressful and financially more rewarding. Lets not forget outside of medical professionals most of those keeping society going will be on NWM or low wages. Let's just flaming treat each other better.
It’s partly because there’s some immunity, but it’s mostly because this virus lives outside it’s host so long. But the reason is largely irrelevant - it’s the fact that it’s a significant difference between this and seasonal flu that means you can’t really equalise them. The NHS occasionally struggles to deal with seasonal flu, and is recruiting thousands of staff and adding thousands of beds to deal with it even after we’ve shut down half the country, and re the age thing, I added my own caveat.
First time I’ve posted it, and I added my own caveat. You’re back to creating a misleading narrative. The simple fact is still that this isn’t just like flu, and no matter how much you repeat it, you won’t make it true.
I’m 56 Never had flu Never had a flu jab Apparently I’ve an 80-100% chance to catch COVID 19 this year, depending which prediction you believe. I’m fairly certain that tells an interesting story about the comparison.
The vast majority of people have never had flu people say ive got flu when they got the sniffles or a cold. they haven't . they would be in hospital. The reason they are building temp hospitals etc is because as it is new, it is a unknown there is no data They are preparing for the worst hoping for the best They are also announcing daily deaths and hospitalisations on TV (which they do not do with other things which kills people every day) which is heightening peoples awareness and thus scaring people.
They’re building the hospitals because they’re required, there’s plenty of data available now, they know exactly what they’re dealing with.
So statistically, it appears that younger people with no underlying conditions are actually significantly more likely to die if they contract flu than they are if they contract Covid - given the much lower transmission rate of flu, yet higher death numbers among this population? And yet some of the people who act like the Stasi on social distancing can’t be arsed to go and get a flu jab. How odd.
I did post this a long time ago in a different context... The only time I got real flu was back in the mid-late 70s I think it may have all been related to the 'Russian flu' epidemic that hit the UK in 1977( the last major epidemic to hit the UK in the 20th century). I was 24 and in good health. The office I worked in were offered a new flu vaccine.... very new!! It was also a 'live' vaccine apparently. It took me two weeks to get over it.There were 40 or 50 people working there and within a week they had to close the office s as about 90% of us caught it. I literally had to crawl on my hands and knees from my bedsit room to/from the shared bathroom as I could not stand. It is the one and only time I have had flu and only this year I had the vaccine as it was offered to over 65s here. I literally though I was dying and none of the B*stards I shared with even called a doctor for me.
2 errors in your post above. Flu like Covid 19 affects people differently sometimes it puts people in hospital other times the symptoms are far less severe. I have had proper flu. I was off work for 3 weeks and in bed for 2 of them but never needed hospital treatment. I think you will find many others with real flu don’t get hospitalised either but are definitely confined to bed for a few days. The real point though is Flu is a serious desease it kills people but we have a vaccine and built in immunities so it’s less infectious and also the death rate is lower than Corona. The effects on the population and health service are not really comparable
There’s a lot of talk about deaths being recorded as Covid-19 when apparently the person was going to die on that exact day from something else but no talk about all the people who are dying at home from it, after being told to just self isolate, who are then not tested and it doesn’t get recorded as it. The death count always has the caveat ‘of those hospitalised X sadly died’. This supports the argument that the numbers are flawed but not that they are necessarily overhyped.