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Lynne (Dramlin) posted an update Sunday, Aug 16, 2020, 6:31pm EDT, 3 years, 9 months ago
Jim It's a bit more complicated than that Jim. Even if you take the highest figure you quoted, 61,000 deaths in one year, the US is currently aiming for nearly three times that number in just 6 months; first known death was in February and the US is currently just short of 170,000 diagnosed COVID deaths. Bear in mind these figures are under-reported death figures; not all jurisdictions across the States are testing people who have died to see if they had the coronavirus. It will be some time before we can get an accurate number of people who have died both with and because of this virus.
Then you need to add in the fact that a significant percentage of people who get the virus end up with permanent medical issues as a result. Even people with mild cases are showing heart damage for months after the infection; again, it will be a while before we find out how many people are never going to get back to their baseline health status. Add in the fact that a significant number of people dying from COVID-19 are younger than 'flu victims and many of these people were healthy when they were infected.
And, on top of all that, there are the people who are dying and suffering pain because they can't get into a hospital, or won't go to a hospital or can't afford to go to hospital or their elective surgery has been postponed or cancelled. Plus people who die because they can't get an ICU bed; and that's just the US. While it's the most seriously affected country it's only one country.
It's nothing like the 'flu.