I thought that this data from Texas earlier this month might be interesting to some. I know many like to compare the US to Europe, so for your comparison try to imagine that Texas is a large European country that is really obese and is primarily white and Hispanic in ethnicity and borders a 3rd or 2nd world country on one border.
This chart shows the low overall Covid total mortality, and mortality rate per total population (at least this far with the year incomplete of course) compared to the flu over each of the past 2 years (0.01% rate for Covid-19 compared to 0.033% and 0.04% for the flu). And also remember, a significant number (maybe 40%) of Covid deaths here so far have been in people with likely less than 1 yr to live.
Additionally, this data also shows how much less of an effort there is to test for the flu each year despite widely available and cheaper flu tests, and why the total Covid positive cases count would necessarily be much, much less as well if we tested less for that. 2.64 million Covid tests (only around 200,000 of those were antibody tests) have been performed in Texas through July 1st (in the last few months) compared to only 150 to 200,000 thousand flu tests yearly over an entire year.
Personally, I think that this data is reassuring overall, and clearly shows why total case counts/positive tests are much less helpful in this instance than morbidity and mortality curves in guiding much in the way we make decisions.
Additionally, this data may spur some to question why our response has been so different with Covid compared to the flu, even compared to the novel 2009-10 H1N1 pandemic? Some might wonder why some so called experts who were in positions in the government both in 2009 and currently are treating this so much different now, when they were actively condemning any thoughts of shutting down the economy or closing schools in 2009 even before H1N1 had really hit here? And some might question why they did not at all promote testing for H1N1 or contract tracing?
So in summary, I think it would be good if people gain some perspective, stop and think a little, and just chill out some.
I have been wearing a mask in a situational fashion for 25 years, and until this year, interestingly I have never been the subject of attempted mask shaming by someone with zero medical background or had it suggested that I should be wearing a mask at all times. Also until this year, I have never seen it suggested that a very contagious novel illness with a high rate of asymptomatic infected people could be eradicated by contact tracing and shutting down the economy?
If you believe in something 100% in medicine, or any science for that matter, just wait around for a few years until we learn something new and the paradigm shifts, and you are proved to be completely wrong.
Top 10 Causes of Death in Texas for Perspective:
1. Heart Disease
2. Cancer
3. Stroke
4. Accidents
5. Chronic Lower Respiratory Disease
6. Alzheimer’s disease
7. Diabetes
8. Septicemia
9. Kidney Disease
10. Chronic Liver Disease/Cirrhosis