Some folks are trying to downplay COVID-19. One Facebook post in particular mentioned some mortality figures about the common, run-of-the-mill flu. “Say… X people died from it, and there was no panic.”
I’ll provide some sourced figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Granted, this is preliminary data but should illustrate the seriousness of COVID-19.
- Cases: 36-51 million
- Deaths: 22-55 thousand
- Mortality Range: 0.0004% to 0.15%
US COVID-19 (as of 13 Mar 2020):
- Cases: 1,629
- Deaths: 41
- Mortality Rate: 2.5%
Mortality rates above are averages. If you dig a little deeper, it gets even more serious. Take a look at these COVID-19 mortality rates by age bracket:
- to age 39: 0.2%
- 40-49: 0.4%
- 50-59: 1.3%
- 60-69: 3.6%
- 70-79: 8.0%
- 80+: 14.8%
If you have underlying medical conditions — like diabetes, heart disease, cancer survivor, immuno-compromised — you’re at a higher risk of death.
So, yeah, it’s kind of a big deal.
Aside from mortality rates, you know what else is interesting? The R0 — or basic reproduction — factor. This number indicates how many other people will become infected once exposed to a carrier.
- Flu (1918 strain): 2 – 3
- COVID-19: 1.4 – 3.9
Huh. COVID-19 is about as virulent as the 1918 Influenza strain that killed between 17 and 100 million.
Then again, this could be “deep state” misinformation.
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