Just a quick note. Maybe others have done this comparison, but I have not seen it.
We now have a head to head comparison of COVID-19 and the common flu (influenza) for this flu season. Influenza is well down this year no doubt due to the prevalence of mask wearing and social distancing. Bottom line, COVID is 2,000 — 20,000 times worse in causing both hospitalizations and deaths. The Data is downright scary. Imagine if we were not wearing masks and social distancing.
The Influenza numbers are from the CDC. The COVID numbers are from the COVID Tracking Project (The Atlantic) and similar to the numbers we are all too familiar with.
I just ran the numbers for COVID vs Influenza from October 1, 2020 to January 16, 2021 (as that is the time frame of the CDC numbers)
Results are for the entire United States:
Hospitalizations:
Total Influenza Hospitalizations (3.5 months): 136
Total COVID Hospitalizations (3.5 months): 353,235 ( 2,600 times worse than influenza hospitalizations)
Deaths:
Total Influenza Deaths: presumably much less than 136. I estimate 10 people. (1 out of every 13 people admitted for influenza died in last season’s flu (19-20 flu season) per CDC. 136/13= 10.4)
Total COVID Deaths: 187,759 (18,776 times worse than influenza deaths)
These numbers are so ridiculous that they are hard to comprehend. They are hard to believe.
However, I do believe this is a fair way to compare these two viruses and the results are real.
So the next time you hear this is just a “bad flu” you will know it is much more than a “bad flu” for many.
Data sources:
Influenza Hospitalizations: https://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/index.htm#S6 (about half way down the page)
COVID Data: https://covidtracking.com/data/api (very similar to multiple tracking data sets you have probably seen, New York Times, John Hopkin’s etc..)
