CHICAGO (NewsNation Now) — A tweet from President Donald Trump reiterated a common refrain about the coronavirus, that some feel it’s no worse than the flu.
NewsNation delved into the facts about the flu, showing how the infection and death rates differ from COVID-19.
We looked at the actual data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Johns Hopkins University.
As of Tuesday afternoon, more than 210,600 people have died from COVID-19 in the United States, according to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University.
According to the CDC, an estimated 22,000 people died during the 2019-2020 flu season, which means influenza deaths are at just over 10% of total coronavirus deaths — and U.S. COVID-19 deaths started being reported just last March.
Total reported U.S. COVID-19 cases are at just under 7,500,000 according to Johns Hopkins.
The CDC reports an estimated 38,000,000 cases of flu in the 2019-2020 season.
There are more than five times the number of influenza vs. COVID-19 cases.
The numbers from Johns Hopkins are updated each day as new information is reported — so our numbers are from late Tuesday afternoon.
The CDC’s website notes the 2019-2020 season estimates are preliminary and may change as data are finalized.
NewsNation also wanted to know what questions our viewers have about the flu vs. coronavirus. Dr. Dean Winslow, a professor of medicine at Stanford University Medical Center with more than 40 years of experience talked with NewsNation’s Marni Hughes.
Watch the full discussion in the player above.