Why comparing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and seasonal influenza fatality rates is like comparing apples to pears

• Published in: Infection control and hospital epidemiology Vol. 43; no. 7; pp. 958 - 959
• Main Author: Papadakis, Marios
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, USA Cambridge University Press 01-07-2022
• Subjects: Apples; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Fatalities; Fruits; Influenza; Letter to the Editor; Pandemics; Public health
• ISSN: 0899-823X; 1559-6834
• DOI: 10.1017/ice.2021.140

[...]Faust et al concluded that to understand the true threat to public health from COVID-19, comparisons with seasonal influenza should be made using an apples-to-apples comparison.1 Although their facts are accurate, such comparisons may underrate the severity of seasonal influenza; rather, they are apples-to-pears comparisons. First and most importantly, COVID-19 is an ongoing pandemic, whereas influenza is largerly caused by endemic strains of several influenza virus subtypes that have circulated over decades as seasonal flu. According to the World Health Organization, the total number of laboratory-confirmed pandemic A(H1N1) cases was 491,382,3 including 18,449 deaths.4 This represents an overall CFR of 3.75%, with a mean age at death of 37.4 years.5 The WHO emphasized “that the reported number of fatal cases is an under representation of the actual numbers as many deaths are never tested or recognized as influenza-related.”