"Flu kills 12,000 in 4 months. Is coronavirus panic overblown?" - Steohen Johnson
The new coronavirus has so far killed more than 1,300 people around the world, and it's infected at least 15 people in the U.S. But meanwhile, the flu has killed at least 12,000 people in the U.S. alone, with flu activity hovering above baseline for 12 weeks straight. "Currently, we have high levels of influenza in the country, which started out really early this year, around Thanksgiving," Bernard Camins, MD, medical director for infection prevention at the Mount Sinai Health System said. "Pretty much the entire country has high levels of influenza-like illness right now."
— Bernard Camins, MD, Medical Director, Infection Prevention, Mount Sinai Health System, Professor, Medicine, Infectious Diseases, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai