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A comment on Covid-19 overtakes 1918 Spanish flu as deadliest disease in American history.

Re:Covid-19 overtakes 1918 Spanish flu as deadliest disease ... by peteradio on Thursday September 23, 2021 @09:04AM (#28628510)
Ok, now do it by age group:

"Likewise, the mean age of the people who died in 1918 was 28, whereas with Covid, deaths are occurring mainly in the elderly, said Viboud, who works at the National Institutes of Health’s Fogerty International Center. In terms of cumulative years of life lost, the Spanish flu’s impact thus remains greater."

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Re:Covid-19 overtakes 1918 Spanish flu as deadliest disease ... by bxrxdx on Thursday September 23, 2021 @09:05AM (#28628521)
Does it not count when old people die?
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Re:Covid-19 overtakes 1918 Spanish flu as deadliest disease ... by refurb on Thursday September 23, 2021 @09:14AM (#28628623)
It counts, just not as much. Go look up “quality adjusted life year”.
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Re:Covid-19 overtakes 1918 Spanish flu as deadliest disease ... by mbg721 on Thursday September 23, 2021 @09:11AM (#28628574)
It depends what you're measuring. Do people live forever, perfectly healthy by default?
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Re:Covid-19 overtakes 1918 Spanish flu as deadliest disease ... by peteradio on Thursday September 23, 2021 @09:22AM (#28628725)
Not saying it shouldn't be counted but it may not end up weighing the same in policy decisions. Would you take 1000000 life years from one age group and give it to an older one? Seems wrong doesn't it? Quality of life matters and it should be balanced against the obligations to our elderly not totally subjugated.
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Re:Covid-19 overtakes 1918 Spanish flu as deadliest disease ... by castis on Thursday September 23, 2021 @09:10AM (#28628562)
It totally counts, but the goal posts are much easier to move when you organize things in a very specific way.
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Re:Covid-19 overtakes 1918 Spanish flu as deadliest disease ... by vibrato2 on Thursday September 23, 2021 @09:09AM (#28628559)
When they’re using a non diagnostic test to categorize them, yes. It doesn’t count.
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