Quote:
Originally Posted by KCChiefsFan88
Yes, the 2009-2010 H1N1 Flu killed 200,000+ worldwide and 62 to 85% of the deaths were people younger than age 65.
Link to further statistics if you want more details: https://www.livescience.com/41539-20...ll-higher.html
And yet there were no mass school/college closures, no mass cancellations of large scale events, no mass cancellations of sporting events during the H1N1 Flu Pandemic.
What is different about COVID-19 compared to the 2009-2019 H1N1 Flu that justifies this more extreme (over) reaction? |
The difference is that H1N1 didn't overwhelm hospitals.
The experience of Wuhan and now Italy is that without aggressive steps to force social distancing, C19 spreads rapidly enough and causes enough serious cases to overwhelm ICU beds and available ventilators.
The death rate for those 30 to 60 is low if good treatment is available.
Some in this age group won't show symptoms and then many will be okay staying home. But some will need to be on ventilators for weeks. The death rate isn't going to be under 1% where/when hospitals are overwhelmed.
Overwhelmed hospitals negatively affects all the other patients hospitals would normally be treating.
If the USA can force enough social distancing for long enough like South Korea, things won't be too bad. There will be a hit to those over 70, but that can be reduced by good care.
A business as usual could be pretty bad. Although it is certainly possible that warmer weather will naturally slow the spread which would help tremendously.
The economy is going to take some sort of hit whether from proactive closures and/or sick workers.