# COVID is not and ‘has never been a pandemic’



## Amity Island (Oct 24, 2020)

A QUOTE FROM SKY NEWS - LATEST ON COVID19





Better safe than sorry, some would argue. But not German microbiologist Dr. Sucharit Bhakdi. He says drastic anti-COVID-19 measures “are grotesque, absurd and very dangerous.”

While some fear COVID-19 will infect one million Germans and kill 30 every day, Bhakdi says typical flus kill 20 to 100 people every day anyway. “The horrifying impact on the world economy threatens the existence of countless people . . . [Medical] services to patients in need are reduced . . . . All these measures are leading to self-destruction and collective suicide based on nothing but a spook.”

Dr. Joel Kettner was the former Chief Public Health Officer for Manitoba and the Medical Director of the International Centre for Infectious Diseases. He told CBC radio, “I have never seen anything like this, anything anywhere near like this. I’m not talking about the pandemic, because I’ve seen 30 of them, one every year. It is called influenza. And other respiratory illness viruses, we don’t always know what they are. But I’ve never seen this reaction, and I’m trying to understand why.”











						COVID-19 Panic Worse Than Disease
					

General George S. Patton once proclaimed, “Fear kills more people than death!” That makes as much sense (or not) as something Yogi Berra said: “No one goes to that restaurant anymore; it’s too crow…




					fcpp.org


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## Amity Island (Oct 24, 2020)

Anitram said:


> The world's response is a first, that's for sure, as nothing like this happened as a result of the 1968 Hong Kong Flu outbreak for example.
> 
> I believe the 1968 virus is still around today, which suggests Covid-19 will also most likely be with us for years to come, maybe always, with or without lockdowns.


Anitram, this too is well worth a watch.


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## Gyles77 (Oct 24, 2020)

Thanks for sharing. As far as I know majority of the people called Covid-19 as a pandemic.


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## Inka (Oct 25, 2020)

There’s a chart somewhere online showing how Covid is *not* like flu and how the numbers killed are much higher. Worth a google.


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## Northerner (Oct 25, 2020)

The thing with Covid is that it's not just how many people die (although the death rate is higher than flu) it's how many people get infected and need treatment, and are left with life-changing complications. We've already seen how the health systems of countries can become overwhelmed, and we're seeing it happening again now. Those who think the NHS wasn't overwhelmed in the first wave need to look at the excess deaths and hugely-lengthened waiting lists. When people get sick with Covid you can't just leave them to their fate, so just 'living with it' instead of taking measures to supress it is a ridiculous notion. Even if it only affects a very small percentage of younger, healthier individuals, on a whole population scale that's still a lot of people - and you can't only 'protect the vulnerable' because, whilst there are some who obviously fit the category, there are plenty who don't. The whole argument smacks of Eugenics


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## Amigo (Oct 25, 2020)

Northerner said:


> The thing with Covid is that it's not just how many people die (although the death rate is higher than flu) it's how many people get infected and need treatment, and are left with life-changing complications. We've already seen how the health systems of countries can become overwhelmed, and we're seeing it happening again now. Those who think the NHS wasn't overwhelmed in the first wave need to look at the excess deaths and hugely-lengthened waiting lists. When people get sick with Covid you can't just leave them to their fate, so just 'living with it' instead of taking measures to supress it is a ridiculous notion. Even if it only affects a very small percentage of younger, healthier individuals, on a whole population scale that's still a lot of people - and you can't only 'protect the vulnerable' because, whilst there are some who obviously fit the category, there are plenty who don't. The whole argument smacks of Eugenics



Most sensible, balanced description I’ve heard in a while so thanks northerner. Feeling particularly raw about this as I lost a valued friend yesterday to Covid. He was very early 60’s with no serious underlying health conditions and it killed him within 3 weeks. I’m pretty darn sure I wouldn’t be writing this had it been flu!


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## Eddy Edson (Oct 25, 2020)

Northerner said:


> you can't only 'protect the vulnerable' because, whilst there are some who obviously fit the category, there are plenty who don't.



And also because if you let the thing spread in the community there's no way in the world you will actually be able to protect the vulnerable, unless you put them in plastic bubbles and use constantly-sterilised robots to care for them and feed them or something. If there's a lot of cirus floating around the community, it will get into old folks homes, and it will kill lots and lots of them. It's depressing that this needs to be argued about after all this time and all the evidence.


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## mikeyB (Oct 25, 2020)

Northerner said:


> The thing with Covid is that it's not just how many people die (although the death rate is higher than flu) it's how many people get infected and need treatment, and are left with life-changing complications. We've already seen how the health systems of countries can become overwhelmed, and we're seeing it happening again now. Those who think the NHS wasn't overwhelmed in the first wave need to look at the excess deaths and hugely-lengthened waiting lists. When people get sick with Covid you can't just leave them to their fate, so just 'living with it' instead of taking measures to supress it is a ridiculous notion. Even if it only affects a very small percentage of younger, healthier individuals, on a whole population scale that's still a lot of people - and you can't only 'protect the vulnerable' because, whilst there are some who obviously fit the category, there are plenty who don't. The whole argument smacks of Eugenics



So how many are left with life changing complications? Any more than measles? Mumps? I doubt it very much. And flu has killed more people worldwide than Covid ever will. H1N1 flu killed 40 million 1918-1920. A recurrence would do exactly the same.

There's a reason why the UK has such a bad death'n'complcation record, and that is the patently feeble and inept response from the UK government. Same thing exactly happened in 1918, it took local authorities, initially in Manchester, to impose the restrictions that we now see with Covid. 

I agree that the current government attitude smacks of eugenics, but the Spanish flu in 1918 killed folk from kings to paupers. It was the virus that was doing the eugenics - it mainly killed the 20-50 age group. Had Covid done that, the government response would have been very different, and a sight more effective.


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## Eddy Edson (Oct 25, 2020)

mikeyB said:


> And flu has killed more people worldwide than Covid ever will.



Why so confident about that? 

Spanish flu apparently killed about 230K people in the UK. I can't see much reason for being confident of less than 1,000 deaths/day resulting from the current daily infections, or much reason for being confident that the infection rate won't accelerate. It's not an enormous stretch to see 230K UK deaths before this filthy thing is tamed.  I mean, I'd bet small amounts of money against it, but I wouldn't bet the house.


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## Welsh Wizard (Oct 25, 2020)

Amity Island said:


> A QUOTE FROM SKY NEWS - LATEST ON COVID19
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Hey, I'm a newbie but have to take issue on this one. I think, if you listen to the majority of expert analysis, what you're saying is similar to those idots who protested in London again, the anti Coronavirus mob. Let's get real here. One life lost is one too many. Being a diabetic, and having had a father and grandfather both of whom had diabetes I am always concious of taking my illness seriously. Not just for my own personal benefit but to try to ensure that I don't become an irresponsible burden on the NHS or society in general. Anyone who believes that Coronavirus is "just another flu virus" has completely lost their marbles. Yes, in comparison with the total population of the UK the mortality rates are about 0.05% to 0.07% but we are supposed to be one of the most advanced and wealthiest countries in the world, so what the hells gone wrong? Maybe it's the trivialisation of the virus from sectors of society, and I'm not pointing a finger here purely at the youth, which has led to the second wave. I don't think anyone really has the answer but please, please, please, let's not think that this virus is just going to go away and for those out there who doubt it's tenacity I think that 48000+ in our population should be enough to prove otherwise.


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## Northerner (Oct 25, 2020)

Amigo said:


> Most sensible, balanced description I’ve heard in a while so thanks northerner. Feeling particularly raw about this as I lost a valued friend yesterday to Covid. He was very early 60’s with no serious underlying health conditions and it killed him within 3 weeks. I’m pretty darn sure I wouldn’t be writing this had it been flu!


I'm very sorry to hear about your friend @Amigo


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## Bruce Stephens (Oct 25, 2020)

Eddy Edson said:


> And also because if you let the thing spread in the community there's no way in the world you will actually be able to protect the vulnerable, unless you put them in plastic bubbles and use constantly-sterilised robots to care for them and feed them or something.



As someone else commented, the idea seems about as likely to succeed as a urine free lane in a swimming pool.


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## Amity Island (Oct 25, 2020)

Welsh Wizard said:


> Let's get real here. One life lost is one too many.


Precisely, and lockdowns have caused more deaths than covid19. Look at the care homes for starters. Old people being thrown out of hospitals, without having time to even pick up their false teeth, transfered into carehomes spreading infections to other residents, killing many. Suicides related to mental health struggles, isolation, innability to get hospital treatments, being told to stay at home, huge job losses, business failures, cancelled holidays, loss of income, loss of homes. The list is endless.

As I said in my previous post, I think the virus is very real, but the response is surreal.


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## mikeyB (Oct 25, 2020)

Welsh Wizard said:


> Hey, I'm a newbie but have to take issue on this one. I think, if you listen to the majority of expert analysis, what you're saying is similar to those idots who protested in London again, the anti Coronavirus mob. Let's get real here. One life lost is one too many. Being a diabetic, and having had a father and grandfather both of whom had diabetes I am always concious of taking my illness seriously. Not just for my own personal benefit but to try to ensure that I don't become an irresponsible burden on the NHS or society in general. Anyone who believes that Coronavirus is "just another flu virus" has completely lost their marbles. Yes, in comparison with the total population of the UK the mortality rates are about 0.05% to 0.07% but we are supposed to be one of the most advanced and wealthiest countries in the world, so what the hells gone wrong? Maybe it's the trivialisation of the virus from sectors of society, and I'm not pointing a finger here purely at the youth, which has led to the second wave. I don't think anyone really has the answer but please, please, please, let's not think that this virus is just going to go away and for those out there who doubt it's tenacity I think that 48000+ in our population should be enough to prove otherwise.


What the hell's gone wrong? The stupidity of the government imposing lockdown too late, which probably accounts for 20,000 deaths, lifting the lockdown by too much too soon, and cruelly sending Covid patients back into nursing homes to infect everyone there. And then along came Dominic Cummings, breaking every rule imposed by the government, but getting off without even a reprimand. That was the point that government lost the plot, or the approval of the people. Scientists at the time thought that this might provoke a second wave, as the population could see that flouting the rules had no consequences.

 Every excess death can be laid at the door of the government from day 1 to now. They have been consistently reactive rather than proactive, which is completely wrong in a pandemic. And now they completely ignore SAGE advice to have a short 2-3 week full lockdown,so they keep the schools open, and think that closing pubs at ten will help. That is not scientific advice. It's lunacy. When I was at Uni in St Andrews, all the pubs shut at ten and were never open on Sundays.Didn't stop folk getting legless, I can assure you.

Haven't you noticed that the mantra "We are following the science" has been dropped? What do you expect to happen where this government ignores the advice of scientists?


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## Amity Island (Oct 25, 2020)

To me, if you listen to what the presenter is saying, he is saying that the actual number of covid deaths is way below what the official figures are suggesting. These over counted "covid" deaths stats, is what everyone seems to be arguing about and making the case on as justification of the destruction/lockdowns of our way of life.

Every death, where someone tests positive for covid19 has, and is being given a "covid19" as the cause of death.

Doesn't matter if someone went in with pneumonia, a stroke, heart attack or cancer. As a result of this policy, BBC news only last night, are now making it clear on all news reports that death stats are based on "*all deaths!* (note not covid caused deaths) where somone tested positive within 28days of death". This means that the true figure for covid deaths is going to be much lower than the 0.07% being quoted.

There is a fundamental difference between dying from covid19 and dying from something else "with" a positive covid19 test.

This is the reason _I think_, that he says covid19 is not a pandemic, because of low death rates, which have been falling from April to October. And deaths is purley what the lockdowns should be based on, not infections. I would of expected deaths to increase over that period, not go down in a pandemic.


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## mikeyB (Oct 25, 2020)

Eddy Edson said:


> Why so confident about that?
> 
> Spanish flu apparently killed about 230K people in the UK. I can't see much reason for being confident of less than 1,000 deaths/day resulting from the current daily infections, or much reason for being confident that the infection rate won't accelerate. It's not an enormous stretch to see 230K UK deaths before this filthy thing is tamed.  I mean, I'd bet small amounts of money against it, but I wouldn't bet the house.


I'm confident about that because Covid kills a small number of people it infects. Spanish flu kills half the people it infects.


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## Welsh Wizard (Oct 25, 2020)

Amity Island said:


> To me, if you listen to what the presenter is saying, he is saying that the actual number of covid deaths is way below what the official figures are suggesting. These over counted "covid" deaths stats, is what everyone seems to be arguing about and making the case on as justification of the destruction/lockdowns of our way of life.
> 
> Every death, where someone tests positive for covid19 has, and is being given a "covid19" as the cause of death.
> 
> ...


Are you really trying to convince the majority of the Public or yourself about the devastating effects of coronavirus?
The initial article that you refered to in your thread was presented by a). an Australia anchorman and b). Sky news
The one thing that I probably agree with you on is the media  especially when it presents Oceana as being an example of containment. But if you are going to use Sky News as your source of expert knowledge you are truely way off track.

Try this link https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

43,000,000 plus positive cases worldwide 1.1 million plus deaths. Get real! If covid was the cause or even part of the cause your logic just doesn't hold. 

Sorry but your arguement doesn't convince me . Time to move on to reality


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## Amity Island (Oct 25, 2020)

Welsh Wizard said:


> Sorry but your arguement doesn't convince me . Time to move on to reality


Are you saying you agree with the official stats?


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## Welsh Wizard (Oct 25, 2020)

Amity Island said:


> Are you saying you agree with the official stats?


If you are merely relying on the graphs you are pretty sad. Everyone of those million people is a life lost . You cannot argue with that. I am sorry to say that I just hope that for your sake you don't become one of those statistics.


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## Amity Island (Oct 25, 2020)

Welsh Wizard said:


> If you are merely relying on the graphs you are pretty sad. Everyone of those million people is a life lost . You cannot argue with that. I am sorry to say that I just hope that for your sake you don't become one of those statistics.


Thanks for your insulting reply. As soon as you resort to insults to make your case, then you've lost the argument.

What else is anyone going to refer to? This is the offical record, showing how deaths have dropped dramatically since it was announced as a pandemic. I am not and have never suggested it isn't serious or that people haven't or aren't still suffering.

b.t.w my argument is more about the response, than the virus.


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## Eddy Edson (Oct 25, 2020)

mikeyB said:


> I'm confident about that because Covid kills a small number of people it infects. Spanish flu kills half the people it infects.



Where do you get that from?? The numbers you see estimated/guessed at are more like 500M infections for 50M deaths, globally. But in places with better infrastructure mortality was much lower: 30M infections for 600K deaths in the US, so 2% IFR; 11M infections for 240K deaths in the UK, so similar IFR. 

Doubt you can be very confident in those numbers but like I say, also don't see much reason for absolute confidence that this virus ends up being hugely better.


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## Eddy Edson (Oct 25, 2020)

Welsh Wizard said:


> Are you really trying to convince the majority of the Public or yourself about the devastating effects of coronavirus?
> The initial article that you refered to in your thread was presented by a). an Australia anchorman and b). Sky news
> The one thing that I probably agree with you on is the media  especially when it presents Oceana as being an example of containment. But if you are going to use Sky News as your source of expert knowledge you are truely way off track.
> 
> ...



Speaking from Oz, Sky News here has staked out the "moronic covid-19 denialism" niche for itself & is a seething hive of scumbaggery.


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## Welsh Wizard (Oct 25, 2020)

Amity Island said:


> Thanks for your insulting reply. As soon as you resort to insults to make your case, then you've lost the argument.
> 
> What else is anyone going to refer to? This is the offical record, showing how deaths have dropped dramatically since it was announced as a pandemic. I am not and have never suggested it isn't serious or that people haven't or aren't still suffering.
> 
> b.t.w my argument is more about the response, than the virus.


If the cap fits wear it buddy. My arguement stands the test does yours? and yes I have lost a friend through this Pandemic


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## Docb (Oct 25, 2020)

Whoa chaps.  Being  rude to each other is not helping anybody.  This is a complicated subject which deserves airing but in a civilised manner please.  I don't want to have to get my moderator stick out!


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## Docb (Oct 25, 2020)

@mikeyB, I am intrigued by your comparing Covid 19 with the 1914 flu epidemic.  Are you suggesting all other factors are equal?


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## Gyles77 (Oct 26, 2020)

Inka said:


> There’s a chart somewhere online showing how Covid is *not* like flu and how the numbers killed are much higher. Worth a google.



What it is then if not flu?


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## Gyles77 (Oct 26, 2020)

Docb said:


> @mikeyB, I am intrigued by your comparing Covid 19 with the 1914 flu epidemic.  Are you suggesting all other factors are equal?



I don't have more idea about it. But your reference I accept.


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## Amity Island (Oct 26, 2020)

Welsh Wizard said:


> If you are merely relying on the graphs you are pretty sad. Everyone of those million people is a life lost . You cannot argue with that. I am sorry to say that I just hope that for your sake you don't become one of those statistics.


I'm certainly not arguing about the million people that have lost their life either directly from covid19 or as a result of being classified as a covid19 death from a positive test during their hospital stay. 

I am however trying to understand what the presenter meant by "this is not and never has been a pandemic". He is not going to go on national TV (would you?) and make that kind of statement unless he has solid reasons to believe it is true.


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## Docb (Oct 26, 2020)

Amity Island said:


> I am however trying to understand what the presenter meant by "this is not and never has been a pandemic". He is not going to go on national TV (would you?) and make that kind of statement unless he has solid reasons to believe it is true



Maybe I'm too old old too cynical or too something else but I assume that anybody spouting opinions on national television is trying to influence rather than to inform.  I personally don't take anything like that at face value, especially when the opinions expressed are towards the extremes of the range in any direction.

Look up pandemic in the dictionary and make your own mind up whether it describes COVID.  You do not need some publicity seeking pundit.


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## Eddy Edson (Oct 26, 2020)

Docb said:


> Maybe I'm too old old too cynical or too something else but I assume that anybody spouting opinions on national television is trying to influence rather than to inform.  I personally don't take anything like that at face value, especially when the opinions expressed are towards the extremes of the range in any direction.
> 
> Look up pandemic in the dictionary and make your own mind up whether it describes COVID.  You do not need some publicity seeking pundit.



Particularly if that pundit is Alan Jones, well-known climate change denier, covid-19 denier, serial defamer, bigot, idiot.


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## Jodee (Oct 26, 2020)

There's a so called movement in UK that are 'supposedly' spreading the same fake news.

I do believe it all originates with a troll type character in the US who gets paid to generate fake news and conspiracies.

Sadly some people do believe them.


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## Bruce Stephens (Oct 26, 2020)

Amity Island said:


> At what point, at what level of deaths caused by a virus does one use lockdowns (devastate the economy, kill off peoples incomes, way of life, prevent people for going about their given human rights and preventing them from meeting friends and family for months and months perhaps years?



The answer for some places (like North Italy and the UK in March) is that you lockdown when you can see disaster is imminent and you can't see what else to do.

Seriously, in early/mid-March what else could the UK do? They made errors, sure: they should have tried harder to emphasise that people who would otherwise be seeking emergency medical attention should continue to do so.

But otherwise (looking at the chaos in some Italian hospitals, and seeing numbers in UK hospitals rising) they knew what was coming. They surely had to act?


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## Inka (Oct 26, 2020)

Gyles77 said:


> What it is then if not flu?



I’m not quite sure what you’re asking? The chart I saw compared Covid with seasonal flu. There were possibly other viruses included in the chart but I can’t remember for sure. 

If you’re simply asking if it’s flu, no it’s a coronavirus not an influenza virus: 

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
(SARS-CoV-2)


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## Bruce Stephens (Oct 26, 2020)

Amity Island said:


> What about after April? Why are we still in lockdown with absolutely no sign of the restrictions changing.



During the summer restrictions were eased significantly. (I think the plan was for that to happen even faster and further, but they used fear a bit too successfully earlier. I think the intent was that many more people should continue to go to work if they could not work from home in the initial lockdown, but they messed up the communication, so the early lockdown was more strict than was intended.)

And now they're seeing hospital admissions (with coronavirus) increasing, and our healthcare system is near capacity in ordinary winters. (Last winter, before Covid, Matt Hancock praised the NHS for planning so well for winter; by postponing elective surgery early.)

And they know they're criticised for not acting quickly enough in March so they don't want to do that again (though it looks to me like they have).



Amity Island said:


> Do you think this is something, like other viruses, other risks we could learn to live with and get back on with something that resembles a healthy happy world.



Maybe. Especially with vaccines and/or effective treatment options. (It seems plausible that we'll never get a vaccine that's close to as good as for polio, so it seems plausible that the virus will become endemic.)

If we'd started months ago we might have been able to drive numbers low enough to keep low with border controls and an effective tracing and isolation system. Maybe, though it's looking like few places have been able to do that.

What we seem to be going for is the worst of both worlds: restrictions bad enough to harm the economy while not being good enough to effectively control the virus. (Because our government is split internally, they end up with compromise.)





						Why do some find the economics/health trade-off so hard to get? Because it’s like the Phillips curve.
					

The distinction between the short run and long run traditional Phillips curve (not the New Keynesian variety) is so ingrained in economists...




					mainlymacro.blogspot.com


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## Bruce Stephens (Oct 26, 2020)

Amity Island said:


> In terms of transmission, respiratory symptoms, deaths, they are very similar.



Treating it more or less like influenza was the UK plan (as far as anyone outside government can tell). The two viruses seem different enough that that just doesn't work. (It didn't work for us in March, anyway.)









						No, COVID-19 Is Not the Flu | Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
					

A virologist breaks down key differences between COVID-19 and influenza to explain why this pandemic is so critically—and catastrophically—different.




					www.jhsph.edu


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## Inka (Oct 26, 2020)

Amity Island said:


> Hi Inka,
> 
> I had to look it up too, what the difference was, nearly all the articles tend to concentrate in symptoms, rather than discussing the actual difference between the two viruses.
> 
> The second thing to ask is, has Sars-cov 2 been isolated so we know what it looks like compared to flu virus?



It’s always been made clear it’s a coronavirus - and so can never be a kind of flu (because that’s the _influenza_ viruses) In the early days, the SARS part was emphasised too (comparing it to the previous SARS virus). 

Of course we know what it looks like  Much has been written about its ‘spikes’ and there are lots of pictures showing them and the general shape of the virus.


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## Inka (Oct 26, 2020)

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/hea...ronavirus/coronavirus-disease-2019-vs-the-flu

“*Coronavirus vs. Flu Deaths*
*COVID-19:* There have been approximately 1,138,671 deaths reported worldwide. In the U.S, 223,059 people have died of COVID-19 between January 2020 and October 23, 2020.*

*Flu:* The World Health Organization estimates that 290,000 to 650,000 people die of flu-related causes every year worldwide.

The COVID-19 situation is changing rapidly. Since this disease is caused by a new virus, the vast majority of people do not yet have immunity to it, and a vaccine may be many months away. *Doctors and scientists are working to estimate the mortality rate of COVID-19, but at present, it is thought to be substantially higher (possibly 10 times or more) than that of most strains of the flu.”*


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## Eddy Edson (Oct 26, 2020)

Amity Island said:


> Eddy,
> I understand what you are saying about the chaps reputation, but even idiots can make a valid point even if most of the time they don't. What I am saying is, you can't write off someone's opinion just because they have made other comments which defy common sense at other times in the past.



Why would anybody care what some unqualified blowhard has to say? "Because he's on television" isn't a very good answer. Neither is, "Because he says stuff I agree with".


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## Inka (Oct 27, 2020)

Amity Island said:


> Hi Inka,
> 
> It seems that the more deadly a coronavirus is (it's CFR), the easier it is to contain. From what I've read, the last sars outbreak ended quickly and killed about 1 in 10 of those infected, which is incredibly deadly, the sort of thing that would definitely warrant a lockdown. If one caught it, there was little chance of being an asymptomatic carrier and thus world wide mass daily testing with daily updates wasn't required.



Yes, because the original SARS virus was ‘too deadly’ - it killed people before they could infect lots of other people. This SARS virus is different and thus effective in spreading, infecting and killing.


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## Inka (Oct 27, 2020)

Anitram said:


> According to what I was reading only the other day the distinction between the flu virus and the Covid-19 virus is clear under a microscope. Apparently the fragment of viral genetic material from the coronavirus looks like a bit of spaghetti while the flu genetic material looks like eight pieces of penne.
> 
> Martin



And the distinctive spikes on Covid show it’s a coronavirus (the spikes form the ‘crown’). Influenza viruses are a different family and are not, by definition, coronaviruses. I’m a terrible pedant, but I get _so_ annoyed by people saying it’s flu. It can’t, by definition, be flu anymore than an insect can be a mammal.

I’ve never heard the pasta description


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## mikeyB (Oct 27, 2020)

Anitram said:


> According to what I was reading only the other day the distinction between the flu virus and the Covid-19 virus is clear under a microscope. Apparently the fragment of viral genetic material from the coronavirus looks like a bit of spaghetti while the flu genetic material looks like eight pieces of penne.
> 
> Martin


The overall shape of the virus covering is completely different. Flu is ovoid and relatively smooth, coronavirus is spherical. and spiky, which is how it got its name, from the latin for crown. You don't need to look at the contained RNA. You don't need to look at the engine to decide you are looking at a car rather than a truck.


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## mikeyB (Oct 28, 2020)

It really depends on whether the government priority is saving deaths and illness from Covid. All these deaths from folk being feart about going into hospital are more than likely deaths that would have happened whether or not. Getting admitted to hospital is no guarantee of survival. Their decision, mind. 

As has been said before, you can’t legislate against stupidity.


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