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 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.