I've heard other people say things very much like Donald Trump's infamous tweet:
"So last year 37,000 Americans died from the common Flu. It averages between 27,000 and 70,000 per year. Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on. At this moment there are 546 confirmed cases of CoronaVirus, with 22 deaths. Think about that!"
So what are the differences, and what are the facts?
"So last year 37,000 Americans died from the common Flu. It averages between 27,000 and 70,000 per year. Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on. At this moment there are 546 confirmed cases of CoronaVirus, with 22 deaths. Think about that!"
So what are the differences, and what are the facts?
Dr Leana Wen, an emergency physician and public health professor at George Washington University in the USA notes the differences:
"It is true, that at the moment, any individual in the US is more likely to contract the flu than contract coronavirus, but this is essentially a pandemic that is spreading around the world."
The key words are "at the moment" because flu is already out there and widespread, but the coronavirus is new and still spreading. It's not comparing like with like. And looking at last years statistics against this years spread of the coronavirus is doing just that.
"You cannot compare the impact or the potential effect of this [coronavirus] to the flu, because this is a new virus that is spreading around the world that does not have a vaccine or treatment".
"The major difference is that the new coronavirus is exactly that: it’s new. We have no idea yet about the trajectory of the disease, how severe it’s going to be, and how much it will spread."
Unlike flu, there is no such vaccine or established treatment protocol for the coronavirus:
"When you think about how we stop the spread of a disease, prevention is key, and treatment is very important, too," said Wen. "It will take at least a year, and up to a year and half to develop [a coronavirus vaccine]. While trials for treatment are in progress, we do not yet have a treatment for it either."
According to the most recent data worldwide, "the [COVID-19] death rate appears to be far greater than the flu", Wen said. "It appears that out of 1,000 people who have this coronavirus, somewhere between 10 to 30 people will die, compared to one person [out of 1,000] who has the flu," she said.
Al Jazeera News notes the statistics so far:
According to Chinese statistics, about 2 percent of people infected with COVID-19 have died so far. In comparison, about 10 percent of the 8,437 people infected with SARS during the 2002-2003 outbreak died, while the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), which originated in Saudi Arabia in 2012, had a fatality rate of about 35 percent.
Seasonal influenza outbreaks, meanwhile, kill less than 0.1 percent of people who fall ill, but as many as one billion people are estimated to catch the flu virus annually. That means between 290,000 and 650,000 people could die from the common cold every year.
Links
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/03/experts-trump-wrong-compare-coronavirus-flu-200309145951552.html
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/02/dangerous-coronavirus-200205205234883.html?utm_source=website&utm_medium=article_page&utm_campaign=read_more_links
"It is true, that at the moment, any individual in the US is more likely to contract the flu than contract coronavirus, but this is essentially a pandemic that is spreading around the world."
The key words are "at the moment" because flu is already out there and widespread, but the coronavirus is new and still spreading. It's not comparing like with like. And looking at last years statistics against this years spread of the coronavirus is doing just that.
"You cannot compare the impact or the potential effect of this [coronavirus] to the flu, because this is a new virus that is spreading around the world that does not have a vaccine or treatment".
"The major difference is that the new coronavirus is exactly that: it’s new. We have no idea yet about the trajectory of the disease, how severe it’s going to be, and how much it will spread."
Unlike flu, there is no such vaccine or established treatment protocol for the coronavirus:
"When you think about how we stop the spread of a disease, prevention is key, and treatment is very important, too," said Wen. "It will take at least a year, and up to a year and half to develop [a coronavirus vaccine]. While trials for treatment are in progress, we do not yet have a treatment for it either."
According to the most recent data worldwide, "the [COVID-19] death rate appears to be far greater than the flu", Wen said. "It appears that out of 1,000 people who have this coronavirus, somewhere between 10 to 30 people will die, compared to one person [out of 1,000] who has the flu," she said.
Al Jazeera News notes the statistics so far:
According to Chinese statistics, about 2 percent of people infected with COVID-19 have died so far. In comparison, about 10 percent of the 8,437 people infected with SARS during the 2002-2003 outbreak died, while the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), which originated in Saudi Arabia in 2012, had a fatality rate of about 35 percent.
Seasonal influenza outbreaks, meanwhile, kill less than 0.1 percent of people who fall ill, but as many as one billion people are estimated to catch the flu virus annually. That means between 290,000 and 650,000 people could die from the common cold every year.
Links
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/03/experts-trump-wrong-compare-coronavirus-flu-200309145951552.html
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/02/dangerous-coronavirus-200205205234883.html?utm_source=website&utm_medium=article_page&utm_campaign=read_more_links
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment