Op-ed: 

COVID-19 vs. The Flu...Separating Fact From Fiction 

By: Diane Sori / The Patriot Factor / Right Side Patriots 

As per Merriam-Webster Dictionary:

Pandemic: an outbreak of disease occurring over a wide geographic area and affecting an exceptionally high proportion of the population; a global outbreak of disease Outbreak: a sudden rise in the incidence of a specific disease  

It's a gamble but a gamble we as a country must take for coronavirus is not the fictitious Captain Tripps* nor is it the reality of the Spanish Flu of 1918...and besides this too shall pass. We know the risks involved but sometimes risks are worth taking especially when it involves getting America's economy back up and running again. And it's not a selfish quest at all for America's economy is the driver of the world's economy and right now the world is hurting...hurting in a real bad way that is.  

And to understand this better one must first know that while COVID-19 meets the dictionary definition of a pandemic the actual numbers put it more in line with the outbreak definition. How so? Let's compare COVID-19 cases with corresponding cases and mortality numbers with that of both the Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918 and the 2009 H1N1Pandemic. The Spanish Flu of 1918 sickened an estimated 500 million people worldwide killing upward of 50 million of them including 7.25 million people in the first 25 weeks alone, with the total number of deaths including some 675,000 Americans. The 2009 H1N1 virus, also known as Swine Flu, sickened worldwide between 700 million to 1.2 billion people resulting in 575,400 deaths with roughly 60.8 million people in the U.S. getting sick with 12,469 of them succumbing to Swine Flu.  

Now compare those above numbers to the numbers of coronavirus cases which has to date, as I write this on Sunday evening March 29th, sees worldwide 707,684 cases of COVID-19 with 33,524 deaths. And while here in America. there have been 140,990 now confirmed COVID-19 cases which sadly has resulted in 2,457 deaths, those numbers cannot be compared to the true pandemic numbers of 1918 and 2009. But, the infected numbers themselves regarding COVID-19 are somewhat inaccurate. How so...because here in the U.S. for example there are estimated to be numerous cases where people thought they had COVID-19, recovered without seeking medical attention, but who actually didn't have it. And without those numbers being factored in you cannot have an accurate nor true count of those actually infected. 

  

Also, know that while the officially recorded numbers of those infected is constantly being reported on, I find it odd that the number of those still recovering from or already having completely recovered from COVID-19 are either not being reported on or being low-balled, with those two numbers in actuality being upwards of 98% of those infected eventually recovering. 

So with the coronavirus outbreak seemingly being the only news story being covered by America's media outlets, what is surely overlooked by all is the fact that America does need to get back to work as the recently passed one time stimulus package payout will put but a dent in the monetary suffering of both the American worker and the very companies they work for. And with the risk for catching COVID-19 remaining relatively low for the general public at large, we need to restart the economy as fast and as early as possible. And while many so-called experts are inundating the media with the plea that we must "flatten the curve" before being allowed to go back to work, the truth is that if we wait too long for that to happen there will be for many no jobs to go back to. 

And while logic coupled with the need for safety dictates that we must slow the progression of COVID-19...“flatten the curve” so to speak...flatten it enough so that hospitals are not overwhelmed...flatten it enough so that relief supplies and medicines can be both manufactured and delivered where needed. And yet we still must keep an ever watchful eye on the case numbers...case numbers that still have been growing exponentially as is common with most viral outbreaks. 

But it's important to know that the number of those infected here in our country will continue to grow for awhile before they start to recede what with our testing capabilities now identifying more people actually stricken with COVID-19. But, and this is key, overall only ten percent of those being tested test positive for the virus...as in 90% presenting do not have the virus but have other maladies ranging from the common cold to the flu to seasonal allergies. In other words, while all those stated maladies share symptoms in common, the difference in severity of symptoms can easily distinguish who's suffering from what. 

In fact, “We lose thousands and thousands of people a year to the flu. We don't turn the country off,” President Trump recently said. And he's right for here in our country this 2019-2020 flu season we have currently seen more than 26 million Americans falling ill with said flu...influenza B to be exact...with 250,000 being hospitalized and with upward of 18,000 having already succumbed to the flu...with 105 of them being children. And worldwide 58 million people have caught the flu, with 730,000 hospitalizations, and with 62,000 flu deaths which should put COVID-19 into a more proper perspective but probably won't for proper perspective cannot and will not be reached as long as the media keeps 24/7 focus entirely on coronavirus while ignoring the numbers presenting with the flu. Besides, coronavirus gets more viewers tuned in which in turn brings in both more advertising revenue and ratings numbers than the way more common and mundane flu does.

Translation: the mainstream alphabet media...an ongoing thorn in America's side...is fueling the flames of panic thus basically “infecting” us more with coronavirus than the actual disease does. 

And while those in the media keep claiming that they're only reporting what the experts tell them, to some degree they're right. However, the predominance of airtime has been given over to doom and gloom experts while giving but cursory airtime to experts whose language does not fit into the media's apocalyptic scenario. Case in point...and here I'm citing FOX News for we all know the overtly liberal alphabet media is not even worth wasting my or your time on...in a recent interview on Fox and Friends regular contributor Internist and Addiction Medicine Specialist Dr. Drew Pinksy said that he believes the media has gone to “great lengths” to keep fear alive in the hearts of their viewers.  

“Look, the WHO has said there's about a three percent fatality rate on this virus and every time they say that they always qualify it and say we expect it to drop a lot once we understand the full extent of the virus. It's among us. This is a flu season, everybody, There are 18,000 deaths from the flu why aren't we worried about that?” the good doctor asked his hosts adding that, "Why isn't the message: get your flu shot? You're much more likely to die of the flu than the coronavirus."  

Dr. Pinksy kept stressing that more focus was needed to be put on the flu, and since that interview...since his voice of reason...I haven't seen him being interviewed again on FOX and Friends. 

But this fact remains...putting all of the media rhetoric aside...we as a population are actually more likely to come down with the flu than with COVID-19. But the difference between the two illnesses lies mostly with the mortality rate with the flu's being 0.01%...meaning most all of those infected will recover with no lasting ill effects...while the mortality rate of COVID-19 is between 2.5 to 3% with most, but not all deaths being amongst the elderly, those with preexisting conditions, and those with a compromised immune system. 

So while one is more likely to get sick with the flu you still have a 99.99% chance of fully recovering, but if you unfortunately come down with COVID-19 you have but a 97% chance of recovering, thus making the real issue how to reduce the mortality rate. And while there are now treatments in place a vaccine is really what's needed...a vaccine that would make it on par with the yearly recommended flu shot for know that COVID-19 will be back next year and probably for many years thereafter. 

And to that affect Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and President Trump's lead man on COVID-19, just recently published this all-important article in The New England Journal of Medicine the highlight of which is, “In another article in the Journal, Guan et al. report mortality of 1.4% among 1099 patients with laboratory-confirmed Covid-19; these patients had a wide spectrum of disease severity. If one assumes that the number of asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic cases is several times as high as the number of reported cases, the case fatality rate may be considerably less than 1%. This suggests that the overall clinical consequences of Covid-19 may ultimately be more akin to those of a severe seasonal influenza (which has a case fatality rate of approximately 0.1%) or a pandemic influenza (similar to those in 1957 and 1968) rather than a disease similar to SARS or MERS, which have had case fatality rates of 9 to 10% and 36%, respectively."

Read Dr. Fauci's full article here: Fauci_NEJM_COVID 

So with that all-important truth said we now need to move on from COVID-19 and let President Trump work on getting the economy back up and running post-haste. And also know that there is other news going on in the world...the problem is we just can't find it in this, the now, 24/7 coronavirus news cycle. 

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* Captain Tripps was the infamous manufactured disease that is the central point of Stephen King's novel 'The Stand.'

Copyright @ 2020 Diane Sori / The Patriot Factor / All Rights Reserved.
 
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For more political commentary please visit my RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS partner Craig Andresen's blog The National Patriot to read his latest article, Cuomovirus, Pork, and Biden's Lost Marbles.

     
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