NewsRescue
While the Corona Virus, aka COVID-19 ‘pandemic’ is worthy of serious concern, it is important the public is able to put the severity of it in context.
Corona virus in its current lethality is less deadly than the seasonal global influenza flu. When the Case Fatality Rate is compared, the Seasonal flu kills its victims at a rate 4-5 times more than the Corona virus.
Quoting from Medscape:
“The World Health Organization estimates that worldwide, annual influenza epidemics result in about 3-5 million cases of severe illness and about 250,000 to 500,000 deaths. In the United States, individual cases of seasonal flu and flu-related deaths in adults are not reportable illnesses; consequently, mortality is estimated by using statistical models.” [1]
With a kill rate of 250,000- 500,000 per 3-5 million victims, we can average out a 375,000 case fatality rate out of an average of 4 million global cases.
That gives a kill rate of 9% for the seasonal flu virus globally.
In contrast the Corona Virus so far by most estimates kills about or less than 2% of its victims.
It is important to note that for both viruses, the majority of deaths are in the elderly, people over 70 years of age where the Corona virus kills at a rate of 14%
The recent influenza virus epidemics have been more deadly with over 10,000 deaths in the US alone the past months. Without a doubt, 4 times more Americans have died from the current flu season than the total deaths from Corona virus globally in the past months.
While on the news in America, you may hear an influenza fatality rate of 0.1%, this is due to better medical care. It must be noted that Corona virus current mortality estimates of 2700 are from outside America.
“According to US-CDC, most deaths occur among people aged over 75 years, and in the world’s poorest regions. Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for the world’s greatest flu mortality risk, followed closely by the Eastern Mediterranean and Southeast Asia.” Source https://www.who.int
So we can expect that corona virus may have an even lower case fatality rate in the US than its current 2% global average if or when it makes landfall.
The chart below shows the most vulnerable to COVID-19. While no deaths have been reported in 0-9 year olds, and the rate in under 39 year olds is 0.2%, those above 70 are most at risk with the 80 and over reporting a death rate of 15%. The seasonal flu virus has a similar greater deadliness for the old.
