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."
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.
______________________________
* 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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The Food and Drug Administration granted hydroxychloroquine emergency
use authorization on Sunday. The authorization comes amid a large
clinical trial currently underway in New York and growing evidence that suggests the drug may be an effective treatment for patients infected with the Wuhan coronavirus.
