"I need to get clarity on your argument that this is no more deadly than the flu- what about all the death?"
It's tough to compare with history, but there have been multiple influenza pandemics of at least the scale of Covid-19. In 1957 for example, 33,000 people are estimated to have died from the flu pandemic in the UK. And that was with a vaccine that was developed in only 6 months during 1957 - it might have been much worse. One million people died world wide. Seems ironic that all these years later, we seem less capable of producing a vaccine.
In 1968 a flu pandemic killed between 1 and 4 million people world wide. 60,000 in Germany. The bodies were stacked in underground tunnels in Berlin because they couldn't bury them fast enough. In the US they estimate around 100,000 died. In the UK an estimated 80,000 people died during the course of the pandemic (over a couple of years).
Those 1957 UK death numbers were based on excess deaths. It will be interesting to see the excess deaths from Covid-19. Given the age distribution of those who died, it's quite possible the numbers will be less than the 1957 flu outbreak. I note that weekly excess death numbers have been down on last year for the past few weeks. Doesn't mean Covid-19 didn't kill loads of people, but because the majority were elderly, many might have died anyway within the year. Having said that, the pandemic is actually over yet!
