FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Will airlines be forced to remove rows and middle seats in the future?
Old May 7, 2020 | 12:01 am
  #54  
sethb
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Originally Posted by CEB
But if people stop to look at the DATA and ignore the EMOTION, you will see that since January, here in the USA, 5 times as many people have died of common influenza (the flu) than have died of SARS-COV-2.
The CDC estimates that in the entire flu season (from October 1 though April 4) there were 24,000 - 62,000 flu deaths. As of yesterday, there were more than that coronavirus deaths, and the number of the latter is still increasing (estimated to hit 3,000/day by the end of May, and that doesn't take into account all the idiots who are breaking or ending quarantines).

The New York Times is a serious culprit here where they published a manipulated and patently false report, since promulgated across the world, that the common flu only kills less than 0.1 % of those who get it. They took the LOWEST reported death rate in the US from the flu (12,000 in the 2011-2012 flu season) and divided it by the HIGHEST reported flu infection rate (45,000,000 in the 2017-2018 flu season).
12,000 / 45,000,000 = 0.0267%

Estimates for this year are 39 million - 56 million illnesses, 24,000 - 62,000 flu deaths. At the low end for both, that's 0.0615%. At the high end for both, that's 1.1%. At the middle of the range for both, that's 0.09%. I'd say the New York Times numbers are quite reasonable, a lot better than your "five times" claim.

Reality is that the death rate from the common flu hovers between 0.9 and 1.2 % on a year to year basis (according to CDC data) which is approximately the same as SARS-COV-2.
Based on resolved cases, SARS-COV-2 is a lot more deadly.

Those who have taken these draconian military law measures will certainly say, 'look how many lives we saved.' But the reality is that they will have saved exactly zero lives. In the end, most of the people who would get SARS-COV-2 will still get it at some point in the next year or so. And those who will die form it will do so.
It's not like the extra time before someone catches it might mean a better treatment is available, or that the slowing down of infections means hospitals won't get overloaded. Not at all. /sarcasm

As MiamiAirport said, the misery index from these government actions (combined with public ignorance and media irresponsibility) already far outweighs the impact of SARS-COV-2.
What counts is the cost of the cases of SARS-COV-2 that were avoided due to the action.
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