COVID still causes significant hospitalizations and deaths despite declining severe impact rates.
Re-infections increase risk for certain health issues.
Annual vaccination is key to preventing severe disease and reducing long COVID risk.

According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, COVID was associated with an estimated 290,000 to 450,000 hospitalizations and between 34,000 and 53,000 deaths between July 2024 and July 2025, the most recent year that data is available. These stats show just how much the virus is still impacting us.

For comparison, here's how the flu impacted people in 2024-2025 Which was a more severe flu season than normal:

CDC estimates there were 51 million influenza (flu)-related illnesses, 23 million medical visits, 710,000 hospitalizations and 45,000 deaths during the 2024-2025 flu season. Based on CDC criteria, the severity of the 2024-2025 season was high.

The estimated flu-related illnesses and medical visits are higher than the 2017-2018 season, the last high severity flu season. Estimated hospitalizations are the same as 2017-2018, while estimated deaths are lower.

I guess this is the new normal. Double the amount of severe respiratory disease than before, and little to no seasonality.

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[–] JoeByeThen@hexbear.net 0 points 1 week ago (1 children)

because an N95 is only so effective

I wish more CC folk internalized this. CC seems to largely have become put a mask on and go Back to Normal, with the Swiss cheese model thrown out the window. Like, you still wanna avoid large crowds and have proper air circulation/filtration whenever possible.

[–] barrbaric@hexbear.net 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I understand why people end up in this position, though. Like, I mentioned in a meeting at work that we should upgrade our ventilation or at the very least test it to know how much air change we have, and was told that it was too expensive and that I was some kind of woman and/or gay for caring. I'm in a solidly blue city. 95%+ of the population are hogs on this one, and if you can't convince anyone else to take wider action then you can only take the actions available to yourself.

[–] JoeByeThen@hexbear.net 2 points 6 days ago

Totally, I get that. But I see a major difference between 'I need to take the risk of work and shopping' vs like 'I want to go to a Taylor swift concert' or something. Lotta folks treating masks like invincible talismans rather than a layer of protection that still relies on other layers to build a system of safety. And on an individual level, fine, but like that's a prevalent mindset over on /r/zerocovidcommunity.