COVID-19 Is Far More Lethal Than Influenza

Why the coronavirus is probably much deadlier than the flu

There are many stock photos for COVID these days, but this is the best one Source: Pexels

It may seem cliched, but if there’s one constant during coronavirus, it’s change. Whether that’s referring to our lives, which have shifted dramatically over the last few months, or to the scientific evidence which is changing literally every week, the changes we are seeing from day to day are truly enormous.

However, despite this, there seems to be one simple thing we can’t get over during COVID-19: the question of influenza. Virtually every time you see an article published about the deadliness of coronavirus, the author has chosen to compare it to the flu, because if there’s one thing that we need more of, it’s analogies.

You might be thinking that this is an analogy for something, because I do love silly jokes, but it’s actually just the second-best COVID stock photo I could find Source: Pexels

The problem is, comparing COVID-19 to the flu has serious issues. The coronavirus is a new disease, which has only been studied for six months, which makes studying things like the number of deaths it causes overall somewhat challenging. On the other hand, we’ve been studying influenza for decades, and know an enormous amount about the disease.