My last sentence is referring to exactly what you're saying, your statement is dangerous and irresponsible because it is designed to make people think SARS-CoV-2 is less dangerous than regular seasonal flu. Comparing annual deaths from an established virus to the current deaths from an emerging virus is on the face of it absurd. You need to compare mortality rates, the rate of spread, and projected infections. You can come back and compare total deaths in two years after it has become endemic everywhere like the flu already is.

If I gave you the choice tomorrow of being infected with this seasons flu or the coronavirus, which would you pick? Hopefully you're smart enough to understand the difference between a 0.1% mortality rate and a 2% mortality rate.

Leading people to believe the flu is more dangerous has slowed (and is still slowing) the response, reducing preparedness, increasing the spread, and as such will have a part to play in loss of life from this virus.

No, the flu is still more dangerous. We're not talking about whether I have the choice of being infected with "this year's strain" or Covid-19. We're talking about risk assessment and realistic chances of catching them. The mortality rate of covid-19 outside Wuhan is 0.7% [1]. In the U.S. it's zero so far. I have a MUCH higher chance of getting influenza and dying where I and most people live. This could change and I certainly reserve the right to modify my preparedness and anxiety appropriately.

Alarmism and panic do far more harm in situations like this than the actual virus itself.

[1]https://www.marketwatch.com/story/coronavirus-update-79339-c...

I think the OP intended dangerous to mean: likelihood of death if you catch the disease. Of which case, COVID19 is still looking to be ~20x more dangerous to catch than the flu.

That certainly depends on where you are and your general health. But as it stands at the time of this writing, the mortality rate for COVID19 and Influenza are both about 2-3%.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/coronavirus-death-...

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6815659/

Unless I'm reading this wrong, this is incorrect. The nih paper says that influenza deaths represent ~2% of all respiratory deaths, not a death rate.

The CDC estimates the death rate of influenza is at most 0.65% (61k deaths and 9.3MM infected) and at least 0.026% (12k deaths and 45MM infections)

https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/index.html

Important to remember that older and immunocompromised people are not always the only vulnerable ones. The Spanish flu had an unusual mortality pattern of killing young adults [1]. It also had an overall morality rate around 2%, which caused multiple years of health catastrophe around the entire world. We don't have enough information to say whether COVID19 will match the characteristics of something like the Spanish flu, but the signs are ominous.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_flu#Patterns_of_fatali...

Are you listening to yourself? 45 million people get the flu and tens of thousands die.

COVID19 is both more transmittable and has a fatality rate an order of magnitude larger.

Except that's not true. The fatality rate is similar to influenza. Influenza ranges between 0.1% and 10% rate, depending on seasonal epidemics. A generous estimate for COVID19 so far is ~3%

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6815659/

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/coronavirus-death-...

The only influenza outbreak that approached 10% death rates was the infamous 1918 "Spanish Flu". In the US specifically, one of those most severe flu seasons caused 61000 fatalities and 45 million infections, or a fatality rate of approximately 0.14%. https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/index.html This is an order of magnitude lower than the 2-3% fatality rate estimate for COVID 19. Had that particular flu season had death rates of even 2%, the deaths would reach almost a million people in the US that year.

Furthermore vaccination is available and there is some herd immunity for influenza. Proven antiviral therapies exist for the flu like Tamiflu or amantadine (depending on specific flu subtype). COVID 19 only has experimental options currently, with no vaccines yet available.

Considering that COVID 19 has a far longer incubation period than influenza, it also has a greater potential for spread. Spread potential to a greater proportion of the population (due to less herd immunity and longer incubation) would mean fewer severe cases would get the proper resources to be treated, which further increases the morbidity and mortality going forward. There is potential for the health system to be overwhelmed. All these factors make it a very serious disease - far more so than the flu.