There were several prior posts debating this but wanted to add to the conversation around will people will want the same standards when in comes to flu season as we do now with COVID. Massive caveat of course is that COVID is NOT the flu. Completely understand and agree. I am very much on board with wearing masks and taking the sensible precautions related to COVID.
Reality is however, that preventative measures for the two ARE largely the same. The best case study we have right now is Australia. They just exited their traditional flu season and turns out the flu was virtually non-existent this year. Why? Because of people wearing masks, socially distancing, heightened focus on sanitation, hand washing, etc.
When we look at a typical flu season in the US, based on 10-yr average CDC estimates, we're talking about 28.6 million symptomatic cases, 446k hospitalizations, and 37,462 deaths every year. Evidence suggests that could be effectively eliminated by following these types of protocols for the ~4-6 month flu season.
In my mind people have taken two stances. 1) "Even one COVID death is too many if caused by people not taking things seriously or following the suggested mitigation tactics" or 2) "It's survival of the fittest and the people who die are largely those who were already in poor health or very elderly"
I guess what I'm getting at is that we, as a population, are willing to accept "Stance 2" and 35,000+ deaths from the flu every year with no concern. Why do some reject that stance and move to "Stance 1" for COVID?
Will this change our mindsets and should we continue these mitigation tactics in perpetuity based on the evidence that we could largely eliminate flu season and likely other respiratory illness? I think it's clearly unsustainable to carry on like this forever, but behaviors may change that lessen flu impact.
Or do we get past COVID, a temporary (although doesn't feel like it) event, lose 200,000-300,000 lives and then turn around and forget it all and start accepting 40k deaths a year from flu like it's a foregone conclusion?
Yes, we believe death rates to be more significant than the flu and I get all that. The point is more about behaviors and how death related to COVID is viewed differently when compared to other viral infections.
Maybe. But right now we are close to 200k in 6 months, so get back to me when we are at 40,000.