| haxxiy said: I think the emerging consensus is that the concern is not exactly "how lethal this is to me" but "how lethal this is to the healthcare system". Nowadays, we have 35 times more people over 60 and 65 times more people over 80 compared to the Spanish Flu, but ICU beds tend to operate at optimal capacities in most places and would be filled already by a flu season that is worse than average. |
That's not the emerging consensus. That's the actual problem and the reason we're taking the necessary countermeasures.
| SvennoJ said: Deaths / Total detected cases varies wildly per country |
I seriously doubt it. That probably has more to do with how different countries classify their deaths. This virus is especially lethal to those with already serious medical conditions and old people. Whether you classify a death as due to the covid-19 or due to these other pre-existing medial conditions makes a huge impact in the final data. Incidentally, this has been a big point in the debate here in Italy for the last few days: many people are saying that not only most other countries were simply late and inefficient at detecting their cases, but are also faking the death toll. With that said, it's still true that Italy has a higher number of old citizens, so we're especially worried about their health.
Essay Pro