Post #48 Coronavirus COVID-19 Pandemic Update

Well before news of COVID-19 wreaked havoc on our borders, travels, news cycle, and hand sanitizer supplies, influenza was quietly going about its yearly routine business with minimal hubbub from the media.To put things in perspective, consider that for the 2019-20 flu season, there have been an estimated 20,000 - 52,000 deaths thus far per the Center for Disease Control in the United States alone. That is just one country.In contrast, there have been approximately 3,600 deaths from COVID-19 worldwide. More deaths are sure to follow, and quite possibly, the final tally may far outstrip that of the seasonal flu.An unknown enemy is always more frightening than one that is known. With the flu, we know what to expect, we have medications to combat it, and most importantly there is an effective vaccine readily available each winter.Unfortunately, with COVID-19 there are still a LOT of unknowns. But we know substantially more now than we did when this all started and we are learning more each day.The Case Fatality Rate (CFR) is likely overestimated and will hopefully trend down.One of the best handles as to the seriousness of a pandemic is to look at the Cast Fatality Rate and compare it to other previous pandemics. TheCase Fatality Rate is simply the ratio of deaths from a certain disease to the total number of people diagnosed with this disease for a certain time period.To put things in perspective, the 1918 Spanish Flu, one of the worst pandemics of all time,...
Source: A Pediatrician's Blog - Category: Pediatrics Source Type: blogs