[voyager2]

It's not the rate that matters. It's the actual number of deaths.

SO FAR, this flu season, the CDC attributes 20,000 to 52,000 deaths to the flu in the US alone. Coronavirus has killed a tenth of that worldwide. So, no. Coronavirus is NOT anywhere near as bad as the regular flu.

[pergadad]

The flu also did not face the same interventions as covid. No one has been isolated because of the flu, so it has reached far wider. What would the death rate look like without the quarantines, preventative testing of contacts and medical interventions?

Also the proportion of people hospitalised is far higher, with 10% or so needing oxygen. You don't get those numbers with the flu...

[andi999]

With the same logic you could say that nuclear warheads are not worse than cars.

[mathattack]

Or handguns. Or in recent years darts. ;-) Folks who minimize the risk don’t understand compounding growth.