Fun fact: the CDC readjusted what the 'normal' rate of deaths is to include the years of the pandemic so now it's harder than ever to find hard numbers because "excess deaths" was one of the last ways to get any information at all!

[–] interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Plus a world wide fast aging population would increase the death background number even if nothing else happens.

Anything that doesn't make an observable, statistically significant difference, has no cause to further impose restriction on how people live their lives

[–] AntiOutsideAktion@hexbear.net 6 points 2 years ago

Plus a world wide fast aging population would increase the death background number even if nothing else happens.

Sharp edges don't happen from demographic trends. This is pure rationalization.

Further than what?? What restrictions??

And what are you implying? Covid has no observable affect on public health? Tell that to the millions of people still getting disabled every year.

[–] Chriskmee@lemm.ee 3 points 2 years ago (3 children)

I know I've read reports about the latest variants being much less deadly. I did see one study recently which for patients presenting to hospital covid was a few percentage points more likely to result in death compared to hospitalized flu patients. There were a lot more covid patients though.

Found it:

death rates among people hospitalized for COVID-19 were 17% to 21% in 2020 vs 6% in this study, while death rates for those hospitalized for influenza were 3.8% in 2020 vs 3.7% in this study

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2803749

So there is some data backing up the feelings I've gotten from everything I've been hearing and seeing.

[–] queermunist@lemmy.ml 6 points 2 years ago (1 children)

So that's almost twice as bad as the flu.

[–] Chriskmee@lemm.ee 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I mean, that's one way to look at it. I looked at it as only a couple percent higher death rate than the flu. Either way, a little less than 2x is way better than like 5x worse.

[–] queermunist@lemmy.ml -4 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Obviously it's better than before, but it's also worth keeping in mind these deaths are in addition to the flu.

Also, there are good and bad flu seasons. I see no reason for COVID to not be the same.

[–] redtea@lemmygrad.ml 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Even if we pedantically accept that 'almost double' is really 'just a few percent higher' while we're looking at a single digit likelihood, 'just a few percent more' than for the flu is a lot more people in overall numbers with something that spreads far quicker than the flu. We could get the death rate of Covid down to ½ the rate for the flu but if infections are more than double (this is just an example, I don't know the actual stats on this one), it still means Covid would be more deadly. Unless I'm missing something obvious.

[–] holland@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

COVID is basically a year round disease where flu is seasonal. So yeah it's gonna produce about an order of magnitude more death with just a few percent higher death rate.

[–] redtea@lemmygrad.ml 2 points 2 years ago

That's how I understood it, too. Turns out it's a difficult thing to comprehend, though.

[–] glingorfel@hexbear.net 5 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I'm not sure how severe an effect this would have on the numbers, but the death rate would non-negligibly go down after millions of the most vulnerable people died in the first wave. As well, the newer variants get more contagious and bypass immune responses more easily, and we're taking way fewer precautions as a society. so 6% is a lower percent but still an incredibly high number

[–] Chriskmee@lemm.ee 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I saw it as an evolutionary benefit to be less deadly. The way I'm seeing this, the virus's purpose in life is to spread, so a higher infection and contagious rate with less death rate is ideal from an evolution standpoint.

[–] ShimmeringKoi@hexbear.net 3 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Ideal for it, not ideal for anyone who enjoys the full function of their mind and circulatory system.

The mind thing isn't a dig at you btw, it's a reference to the brain fog