from [
www.cnn.com]
Doesn’t the flu kill more people than coronavirus?No. More people have died from coronavirus in the US since February than from the flu since October.
In other words, coronavirus isn’t just killing more people than the flu. It’s also killing at a much faster rate.
From October 1 to April 4, an
estimated 24,000 to 62,000 Americans died from the flu, according to CDC.
The first known US death from coronavirus was in February. By June 11, more than 113,000 people have died, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
There are other reasons why coronavirus can be more dangerous than the flu:
Coronavirus is twice as contagious as the flu. Research indicates a person with the flu infects an average of 1.28 other people, CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta said. But with coronavirus, “it’s likely between 2 and 3” other people. But mitigation efforts such as stay-at-home orders can drastically reduce that number.
Coronavirus can be spread unknowingly for many more days than the flu. People with coronavirus might not get symptoms for 14 days, and some get no symptoms at all. But during that time, they’re still contagious and can infect others unknowingly. But the incubation period for the flu is much shorter, and most people get symptoms within two days of infection.
A vaccine is available for the flu, but no vaccine is available for coronavirus. Experts say the number of flu deaths could be drastically reduced if more people got their flu shots. But about half of Americans don’t get vaccinated, including most children who die from the flu.
