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| Photo By: CDC via AP |
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 34,200 people died last year during flu season. According to numbers tabulated by Worldometer, 39,651 people have died of the coronavirus at this article's time of writing.
The rate of death for people with COVID-19 compared to the flu is also stark. According to the CDC, 35.5 million people likely got the flu last year. That is a death rate of only .1%.
For months, the President has been downplaying COVID-19, its impact on the United States, and its seriousness as a virus. In February, President Trump claimed that people in the United States with the coronavirus were "getting better."
The same month, Mr. Trump stated, "When you have 15 people [with coronavirus], and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero, that’s a pretty good job we’ve done."
In March, the President further downplayed the coronavirus, telling people to "think about" the fact that the flu killed so many people:
So last year 37,000 Americans died from the common Flu. It averages between 27,000 and 70,000 per year. Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on. At this moment there are 546 confirmed cases of CoronaVirus, with 22 deaths. Think about that!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 9, 2020
Now, unfortunately, it appears that coronavirus will kill tens of thousands more people than the flu did last year. In 2017-2018, the flu killed approximately 61,000, the highest in the 2010s, and a number that the coronavirus will likely eclipse in May.