Covid-19 is not like the flu. It is actually a form of coronavirus - Basically super-SARS - Yet in my experience people are comparing it with the flu more often than they are comparing it with anything else. Apples and oranges. Is it just because this outbreak happened to occur around flu season?
Why compare covid-19 to flu?
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@Discipulus_Didicit
It is loke the flu and pneumonia combined into one disease.
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@RationalMadman
But why is everyone comparing it to the flu rather than comparing it to viruses that it is similar to?
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@Discipulus_Didicit
Because they are referring to the symptoms not the design of the viral RNA.
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@RationalMadman
No, I mean people comparing things like rate of infection and lethality (both of which are worse than flu).
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@Discipulus_Didicit
Actually the rate of infection is inferior to the flu, it's just that the flu isn't lethal unless you are EXTREMELY vulnerable whereas coronavirus is lethal if you're only moderately vulnerable (when compared with the flu's exploitation of health vulnerability leading to death).
Also, the suffering is more severe than a flu because not only are the lungs and body more brutally hit and energy drain more severe, but the virus is so well known to be potentially lethal and the degree of social isolation going on, on top of how much MORE isolation will occur if you're forced to sleep 70% of the day and still stay away from any others you're isolating with, on top of the packed hospitals that you probably will end up in at some point during your recovery, mean there's psychological issues involved. People with hypochondria paranoia or microbial-phobic OCD are going to have actual panic attacks when/if infected or discovering one in their household is infected, this then means they may collapse or something and drain hospitals more.
There's so much to why this virus is debilitating beyond just how fast it spreads but you are wrong if you think this is so much more brutal in spreading than the flu is, what's different is that when a flu spreads there's some sick people, they take around 2 days off work when things get really bad and bounce back. This disease not only is harder to recover from than a normal flu, thus increasing how long your body has the active virus to infect others with, but it's got psychological stress on a tightrope attached to it that is having so many people on edge that the hysteria has caused far more to surround this than just the disease itself. This is actually less dangerous than swine flu was, especially towards the non-health-vulnerable.
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@Discipulus_Didicit
We have been exposed to many flu's over our lives if we're over the age of around 9. Flus come often, seasonally and are usually similar enough to the original one we were exposed to that only our first 1-2 flus when either young or moving to a climate very unlike our former one do we have a 'hardcore flu' healing process.
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@RationalMadman
Actually the rate of infection is inferior to the flu
Yeah but covid-19 has a higher rate of infection than the flu.
But my point is why compare it to the flu in the first place rather than to SARS since it is more similar to SARS or compare it to swine flu since its effects on the economy are more similar to swine flu?
Is covid-19 even seasonal? I can't think of a worse thing to compare it to than the flu. Only thing that is somewhat similar is the symptoms, which also happen to be among the least relevant of factors.
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@Discipulus_Didicit
Because the symptoms, when compared with a very well known disease worldwide (since this is a pandemic of a literal global scale) needs to be an easy 'compare to' that can help all journalists and governments convey the message of how to think about the disease the average human being.
Pneumonia is not well known and will cause even more panic than before. Comparing it to a flu is simpler and also helps people think 'we are familiar with this' even though these are extremely unfamiliar times. This isn't even negative subliminal messaging, it's positive as the average human is too fragile intellectually and emotionally to cope with this situation. If someone close to me got infected, even though I may cope with my meditative tactics and being how I am, those close to me would probably crumble. At the very least what we need to do is ensure the degree of psychological torment and hysteria is kept at a manageable maximum. Thinking of it as simply as an ordinary flu that is just a bigger badder variant is the best portrayal to calm people despite keeping them alert enough to stick to the physical isolation. I would go as far as to say that if not for the Internet, this may have caused human extinction almost, as people just can't help but be social on a regular basis. At least now they can do that by video chats and such.
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@RationalMadman
You type really fast.
Good post
obviously. people are saying more people die from the flu (so far), but if you notice, it's usually trump supporters who are trying to defend the idea that trump promoted that we shouldn't be taking this so seriously. they say a hundred million could get the disease in the usa, leaving potentially millions dead. so of course we should be taking this seriously. they ignore the basic idea that the rate of death and rate of infection is higher with the virus, and thus make themselves look like jackasses.
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@n8nrgmi
@Dr.Franklin
I would be interested in seeing Frankie's response to the above post given the fact that Frankie seems to have expressed agreement with me in post 11 despite seeming to be the type of personality that cares more about who says a thing (in this case Trump, who he likes) rather than what the thing is that is being said (in this case a statement regarding the relative seriousness of the covid-19 pandemic).
My hypothesis would be that Frankie did not think of the angle that n8 points out.
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@Discipulus_Didicit
I am not an always-Trumper
I have been critical of his foreign policy before
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@Dr.Franklin
To what extent do you agree or disagree with post 12?
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@Discipulus_Didicit
Both sides are using this incorrectly
One side is using it for economic reasons, to scare investors and try to take the blame on Trump, even though up until now they have claimed it was Obama's economy.
Another side is the minority in their side but the people who say it's not a big deal, with the amount of research on it increasing, the flu comparison is not seen as much anymore but some people still say it.
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@Discipulus_Didicit
Because they are comparable.
In so much as, although they have discernible differences, they nonetheless have obvious similarities.
Cats and Dogs etc.
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@Discipulus_Didicit
people have died from viral pneumonia since the dawn of man, it happens, generally not identified but rather the generic term viral pneumonia is used (to the best of my knowledge)
the comparison (right or wrong) helps some alleviate some fear and help with understanding. People generally don't die from these viral infections but rather get pneumonia because of them.
the air sacs in your lungs get infected and inflamed, and they fill up with fluid.
Anything that weakens your body’s defenses (immune system) can raise your chances of getting pneumonia.
Anything that weakens your body’s defenses (immune system) can raise your chances of getting pneumonia.
so in many ways you can compare covid-19 with the flu, some strains of flu may be a better comparison but that would be too much work to compare and contrast.
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@n8nrgmi
it's usually trump supporters who are trying to defend the idea that trump promoted that we shouldn't be taking this so seriously.
source?
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@TheDredPriateRoberts
People generally don't die from these viral infections but rather get pneumonia because of them.
Of course. People don't die from getting shot either right? It's actually the organ failure and blood loss that kills them.
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@Discipulus_Didicit
just being argumentitive, that's fine
covid-19 isn't the only virus or way people get pneumonia right?
Bacterial pneumonia is an inflammation of the lungs due to bacterial infection.
pneumonia is a response to the infection incase you didn't read the previous link.
I think your question "Why compare covid-19 to flu?" has been answered.
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@TheDredPriateRoberts
I think your question "Why compare covid-19 to flu?" has been answered.
And the answer is "They are equally dangerous because they both cause death via pneumonia"?
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@Discipulus_Didicit
And the answer is "They are equally dangerous because they both cause death via pneumonia"?
I would say, which one is more likely to cause pneumonia that leads to death. All the deaths have been respiratory failure related/pneumonia. Certainly there are factors as to why someone is more likely to get pneumonia than others, so there is that (smoking, probably asthma and other lung or breathing issues). But that is true for any illness that has the potential to cause pneumonia I would think.
There certainly are many variables to try to take into account when trying to determine which one is "worse"
some food (virus) for thought
Among US adults, an estimated 177,000 hospitalizations and 14,000 deaths associated with RSV infections occur annually. However, these are likely underestimates of RSV-associated deaths.
here's what interesting about this, the actual test is not fda approved for anyone over 19, and that's new! for many years it was 6 years old and under. Pediatricians often won't bother checking children OVER 2 years of age, because there is no "cure" all you can do is manage symptoms.
Some guy sitting on his keyboard chitchatting about why Covid is compared to the flu is only a good sign as at least he's social distancing.
It is not a time to nitpick terminology, this is about really fighting a threat to all elderly and health-vulnerable in our species. Whether you like that it's compared to the flu or not, what is the use of the whining?!
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@TheDredPriateRoberts
I would say, which one is more likely to cause pneumonia that leads to death.
Definitely covid-19. Not even a fair comparison.
"But DD the fact that the cause of the death is the same means the death rate is the same hurr hurr hurr gotcha there!"
Yeah okay sure don't actually look up what the actual death rates are or anything. SMFH.
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@RationalMadman
at least he's social distancing.
Who me? Nah, I work in a big Amazon warehouse and they just temporarily upped our pay to about $1350 a week gross for the next 2 months or so. You must be high as hell if you think I am missing work with pay like that.
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@Discipulus_Didicit
the fact that the cause of the death is the same means the death rate is the same hurr hurr hurr gotcha there!"
care to share with the boys and girls where that was actually said by me?
(insert apology here)
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@RationalMadman
Some guy sitting on his keyboard chitchatting about why Covid is compared to the flu is only a good sign as at least he's social distancing.It is not a time to nitpick terminology, this is about really fighting a threat to all elderly and health-vulnerable in our species. Whether you like that it's compared to the flu or not, what is the use of the whining?!
when at work have you have little to nothing to do, chitchatting about it is at least something. fun fact covid presents with leukopenia and lymphopenia, why I find that very interesting is we had a lot of those results pretty much before this covid was a known thing, we commented how odd it was at the time, makes me wonder how many of those would have been positive had they been tested, oh well, just more stuffs to think about.
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@TheDredPriateRoberts
Oh so you can acknowledge that covid-19 is significantly more deadly than flu. Good.
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@Discipulus_Didicit
Oh so you can acknowledge that covid-19 is significantly more deadly than flu.
they are not the same, obviously since I never said that even though you falsely accused me of say that, I have not said one is significantly more deadly than the other so stop listening to the voices in your head telling you stuff that is not written on the screen, believe your eyes not the voices. Do you like to just make up shit and look dishonest?