Fascinating article about annual flu deaths (Spoiler: They are estimates) [View all]

[DrToast]

We keep hearing about how the flu kills 40,000 to 60,000 per year. But what I didn't know, and I imagine most people don't know is those are calculated estimates. Right now we're counting COVID-19 deaths when they are confirmed cases of the disease. But if we did the same thing with the flu death count...

"In the last six flu seasons, the CDC’s reported number of actual confirmed flu deaths—that is, counting flu deaths the way we are currently counting deaths from the coronavirus—has ranged from 3,448 to 15,620"

Now there's legitimate reasons for doing it this way, as many flu deaths get missed by the system. But the figures show the same thing is happening with COVID-19. So we've been comparing apples to oranges--an estimate (flu deaths) to a non-estimate (COVID-19)!

Great article here. I highly recommend it!

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/comparing-covid-19-deaths-to-flu-deaths-is-like-comparing-apples-to-oranges/