You must not be watching a lot of TV. I constantly hear and see "experts" and talk show hosts claiming "don't panic, it's just a bad flu", or "nobody speaks about the dead of flu, why do you care now" and some such nonsense. The "wash your hands" meme is also spreading around.

This may be a regional thing. I haven't seen anything like that in Ireland except from true crackpots (the actual insane people seem divided on whether COVID19 is imaginary or a bioweapon). Certainly not on any respectable news source.

To be honest, it is a bad flu, as what we call as flu is also most commonly caused by coronavirus. Though its death rate is 200% worse than a common flu with proper hospitalization.

... Eh?

No; what we call the flu is caused by the influenza virus. What we call the common cold is sometimes caused by a coronavirus (about 25% of cases). And while actual mortality rates are unclear, even the most optimistic figures (South Korea, for instance), are far more than 200% normal seasonal flu rates.

my apologies

More like 900% to 2900% worse (10-30 times).

What is the “wash your hands meme”?

so you should not wash your hands?

Hygiene is important, of course, but I've seen several people say that if you wash your hands, the likelihood of being infected is zero. That is absolute nonsense, bordering on irresponsible. Coronavirus spreads through air particles. For this virus, washing your hands has no particular benefit.

Every mainstream news outlet in Canada. Followed by National, local polical leaders of all groups. On the advise from health official. Who get directives from the WHO.

Genuine question: What do the alt-right have to gain by dismissing the potency of COVID?

I know the South Korean government took that exact position because of their pro-China stance. They tried really hard to downplay the dangers of the virus simply because of its Wuhan origins. knowing that the Trump administration is on the other side of the fence regarding China, what do they have to gain by dismissing the situation?

They get to excuse their government’s new Katrina. They also tend to be distrustful of science, and of our ability to change anything through centralized action.

The point isn't that they have anything to gain. You're looking at it from the wrong angle.

They genuinely believe that it's a non-issue. That it will go away and that it's simply a trivial virus that isn't worth worrying about.

How many people die each year from flu worldwide? How many times mortality of Covid-19 is bigger?

Mortality rate for COVID-19 is about 2-3% with medical care, and maybe 10% without. For common flu it's roughly 0.1% depends on when and where of the outbreak.

2-3% of confirmed cases or total estimated cases, including mild and asymptomatic cases that aren't reported?

Most mild cases are reported as they perform temperature check for everyone who enters and exit most if not all enclosures, so unless those people self-quarantined and never go out, they are likely be included in the statistics.

Asymptomatic cases are extremely rare, if they infects multiple others, they will likely be identified through retrospection. Overall, I'd say those cases are unlikely to result in significant difference in the estimate.

Not sure if it makes sense worldwide given that there are a lot of 3rd world countries, but in US the flu has a mortality rate 2 orders of magnitude less than covid-19.

According to the CDC, "between 291,000 and 646,000 people worldwide die from seasonal influenza-related respiratory illnesses each year" [1].

This is likely exacerbated by many countries not having ready access to flu vaccines and/or proper hospitalization for those that need it.

Compare this to America-specific numbers, where 34,000,000 – 49,000,000 Americans catch a flu-related illness each year, yet only 20,000 – 52,000 result in death [2].

[1] https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2017/p1213-flu-death-esti...

[2] https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/preliminary-in-season-e...

Yes, so with the same numbers that catch covid it would be 2-5 millions US deaths.

A 10% death rate?

4%

"Yes, so with the same numbers that catch covid it would be 2-5 millions US deaths."

So, 1.3-1.9 million US deaths.

I misread parent comment but this was exactly my point. A lot of people die from flu although there is vaccine and mortality rate is at least one magnitude lower than Covid-19 and hospitals are not overwhelmed.

I don't follow. Per the CDC link, seasonal flu hospitalizations result from 1.0% to 1.5% of flu infections. COVID-19 is currently at about 20%. That's a significantly higher hospital load for COVID-18 than for seasonal flu.

With season flu hospitals are not overwhelmed but with covid-19 they probably will be so even more people will die.

There's also the political backlash if the WHO accurately says, "this is a pandemic," early enough to flatten the curve and save lots of lives.

Do you expect politicians to actually think? Especially when they can point at the "fakenews WHO." (I don't know how Trump would actually say it but you get the picture.)

If the WHO declares a pandemic early, they _do_ save lives. But they take the political beating because "nothing happened."

If the WHO declares a pandemic late, they don't save lives. They take a mild wrist slap because "they were late to declare it," which will not be remembered in about a month.

> their alt-right propaganda channels

Sure, those classic alt-right propaganda outlets like the Today show.

> I don’t know what “media” you’re referring to, put the idea that it’s being dismissed as “just the flu” by anyone except the US government and their alt-right propaganda channels strikes me as blatantly wrong.

Are you sure you've been paying attention longer than a week or two? The virus was being downplayed all of January and February by the media and other people not named Trump as "not a big deal" because "the common flu kills way more people."

> The virus was being downplayed all of January and February by the media

That's not been my impression at all. But then, I don't live in the US. Maybe it's an American media thing?

America is so polarized politically it depends on which side you're on. If you're a fan of the current administration then they're doing their best and handling things in a realistic pragmatic fashion. If you're not, then the admin is doing everything wrong at every turn. Also, the media is everyone's bogey man because some media sides with the administration and some doesn't.

Exactly. The media has fallen victim to corporations and special interest groups. This is why I'm voting for Bernie Sanders, personally.

And, as leader of the Executive Branch of the government, what exactly will he do to change the private media so that it's not serving private interests?

Well, if 30 years of public service Bernie has performed are any indicator, absolutely nothing. Bernie's full of these big, revolutionary, expensive ideas, but he's really accomplished very little in his career. Look at Vermont... second thought, don't look at Vermont (hint: business abandoned the high taxes of Vermont decades ago). Economically, VT is a basket case, do you want Bernie to work his magic on a national level?

Yes

It's about what we're saying, it's about sending a message. That we won't be bullied by the corporations and special interest groups, and we'll divert our aid to those who are in need and struggling. There is nothing radical about that.