by Michael Snyder, End Of The American Dream:

COVID-19 is an extremely deadly virus, and nobody should be trying to downplay the severity of this outbreak.  By now, you have probably heard a lot of people try to convince you that COVID-19 is not that dangerous because the flu has killed far more people this winter.  And that is true.  But what they aren’t telling you is that the death rate from the flu is extremely low.  Tens of thousands of Americans die from the flu each year, but if this coronavirus spreads all over the planet the death toll will be in the tens of millions.  This coronavirus outbreak is likely only in the very early stages, and if it becomes as widespread as the flu, it will become a public health crisis unlike anything we have ever faced in modern times.

After taking a look at the numbers, hopefully you will understand what I am trying to say.

On Tuesday, the World Health Organization announced that the global death rate for COVID-19 is now 3.4 percent…

World health officials said Tuesday the case fatality rate for COVID-19 is 3.4% globally, higher than previous estimates of about 2%.

“Globally, about 3.4% of reported COVID-19 cases have died,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during a press briefing at the agency’s headquarters in Geneva. In comparison, seasonal flu generally kills far fewer than 1% of those infected, he said.

I have a feeling that number will continue to go up, but for the purposes of this article let’s assume that number if accurate.

As for the flu, the CDC says that there will be between 32 million and 45 million illnesses in the United States during this flu season, and somewhere between 18,000 and 46,000 deaths.

That means that the death rate from the flu this year will be about one-tenth of one percent.

So can we please stop with the comparisons between COVID-19 and the flu?

COVID-19 is at least 34 times more deadly, and experts are warning that up to 70 percent of the global population could ultimately catch the virus.

If that happens, we will see a death toll in the tens of millions at a minimum.

Here in the United States, the death rate is running well above 3.4 percent so far.  Out of 118 confirmed cases, nine victims have died so far…

The eighth and ninth persons confirmed to have died in the U.S. from the coronavirus lived in Washington state, just like the previous seven victims. Washington accounts for 27 of the 118 cases so far reported in the U.S., and state officials said 231 people are under public health supervision.

I have a feeling that the death rate in the U.S. will go down once we start testing more people, but we will see.

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