An attempt to shed a bit of light on the flu outbreak.....
https://apnews.com/580923fa5e2200f98c0a42b5c0d7b236Ropeik said the coronavirus triggers thinking about years of warnings about lethal pandemics. “This idea of the new disease being a major killer is an idea that has been burned into our recent fear memory,” he said.
Vincent Covello, director of the Center for Risk Communication, based in New York, provided a list of 17 psychological factors that he said can influence how individuals gauge the risks of coronavirus. For example, he said, people are often more concerned about events if they don’t trust the authorities or institutions in charge. They’re more concerned about involuntary things, like exposure to an infected person, than voluntary ones, like smoking or sunbathing. And they’re often more concerned about risks that have delayed effects, like the lag time between infection and symptoms, than those with an immediate effect, like poisoning.
So how can people minimize the risk of overreaction in themselves and others? Don’t spread the word about every little development, including minor missteps by government authorities, Ropeik says. And “don’t just share the scary parts,” but also include things like infection usually causing only mild to moderate symptoms.
Finally, “don’t be a 24/7 information victim,” he said. “Log off, put your phone down, pick up a book ... Shut down your risk radar screen for a while.... You’re probably just as much at risk or safe tomorrow as you are now, whether you stay online all the time or not.”
Number of flu-caused deaths in a flu season in USA, average, per CDC: 56,000
Number of deaths from coronavirus in USA: 11
Average global flu deaths: 291,000 to 646,000
Global coronavirus deaths: 3000
This is not to say that covid-19 could not prove to bring an especially harsh flu season, but it's very likely (from all the data I've seen) that most deaths will be comorbidity deaths, where an older person with other systemic illness is felled by pneumonia (as is the case with the flu figures cited above). Non-comorbidity deaths, from covid-19, are a little higher than average flu, but much lower than SARS.
