It's just the flu

[notanoctopus]

Just got off the phone from a friend of mine ... it's just the flu and doesn't kill anyone not elderly without an underlying condition...aaagh!

I know! These type of comments are really starting to give me the rage now! I am astonished people think this way.

Even if it were just the flu (I’m not saying this is the case), then it can still be fatal - even for some people who aren’t elderly and don’t have an underlying health condition. I was extremely unwell last time I had flu. I don’t want to be I that state again.

Some of those who initially had a comparatively light experience with Covid went on to develop longer term illnesses. People who cannot take this seriously are risking not only themselves but all of us. Including the very vulnerable.

@OublietteBravo

Even if it were just the flu (I’m not saying this is the case), then it can still be fatal - even for some people who aren’t elderly and don’t have an underlying health condition. I was extremely unwell last time I had flu. I don’t want to be I that state again.

I agree, 'flu is dreadful. Covid is far worse unless someone is one of those people who only get it mildly.

I'm 37 with no underlying health conditions. It's a lot worse than the fucking flu, I can assure you (her).

I was taken into hospital by ambulance a week after my symptoms started and I genuinely thought I was going to die. Flu is a walk in the park compared to covid.

Well, yes the virus is multi organ unlike flu, in terms of who it is a problem for, who is vulnerable and who is likely to die it is the same as flu - ie, old, infirm or already suffering other health problems.

If you are young and healthy there is a minuscule chance you’ll due- as there is with flu

Really, people do need to start realising the hysteria Around this.

Even for those of us who don’t have underlying health conditions it is not just the flu.

I’ve had flu and I now have Covid. I’m coming out the other side but i have never felt more ill. My chest and breathing still isn’t right.

Flu is horrid I know have has twice in my life. Howmany you are in minority and very unlucky ma sorry for you This virus us here to stay I am afraid. My dad has been tested positive today along with 5 others in his care home, most have advanced stages of dementia with various health conditions, all are asymptomatic. Stop believing what you are told by the media and misguided politicians. start searching for the real truth

And just to add I’m in my forties and a very fit gym goer.

For many people covid is much less than the flu (more like the day before you get a cold) but for a small number it isn't.

For many it is mild, for many there is nothing (although studies on asymptomatics have shown lung scarring etc), for many it is awful and for many it is death. However, to say it's just a strain of flu and only affects the elderly is bollocks.

Flu discussions just make people look thick.

Flu has killed up to 685,000 people in a year, including small children and adults of all ages. It is a deadly illness, it's just that we don't panic about it and act like we're all doooomed and destroy the economy for it.

Flu regularly overwhelms hospitals - Cheshire and Merseyside issued 32 OPEL 4 alerts (the highest NHS alert that indicates care being seriously compromised) in the winter of 2017/18. Again no one gave a fuck, nothing was shut down, businesses weren't destroyed.

Yes covid isn't a flu, it's a coronavirus. But flu is serious and does cause deaths and serious problems in the health system. The fact that people didn't care about it before doesn't mean it wasn't an issue, it just means you weren't made to feel like the world was ending because of it.

It might also be worth pointing out here that 11 million people die of infections of all types every year. That includes kidney infections, ear infections, infected cuts, as well a viruses like the flu, meningitis, norovirus and so on. Dying of an infection is hugely, hugely common - again, no one gives much of a fuck normally.

@TheDailyCarbuncle

Flu discussions just make people look thick.

Flu has killed up to 685,000 people in a year, including small children and adults of all ages. It is a deadly illness, it's just that we don't panic about it and act like we're all doooomed and destroy the economy for it.

Flu regularly overwhelms hospitals - Cheshire and Merseyside issued 32 OPEL 4 alerts (the highest NHS alert that indicates care being seriously compromised) in the winter of 2017/18. Again no one gave a fuck, nothing was shut down, businesses weren't destroyed.

Yes covid isn't a flu, it's a coronavirus. But flu is serious and does cause deaths and serious problems in the health system. The fact that people didn't care about it before doesn't mean it wasn't an issue, it just means you weren't made to feel like the world was ending because of it.

This. Flu varies from unpleasant to fatal, especially for a large overlap of the population most susceptible to Covid.

A late, long flu season in 2018 aggravared by a long hard winter and poor efficacy of the strains chosen in the flu vaccine resulted in 50,000 excess deaths.
And we barely blinked, much less supressed and shut down society.

Spanish Flu was also "just the flu".

There have been approx 10% more deaths from all causes including Cv19 in 2020 than average. The issue is we can't afford to break the NHS which already struggles to cope in winter months. Due to being chronically underfunded for a decade of Tory rule.

Imagine how many would be dead from Covid now if no one blinked or gave a fuck though? It's much more contagious than flu. The vaccine was not great for flu in that year, but there was at least a vaccine of sorts. Some suppression is necessary so that nhs can cope better (I don't think it will cope well as things stand - it hardly is coping when many people weren't seen/were seen too late in the first wave, or when critical non Covid treatments were cancelled). I don't agree with some suppression measures eg I don't think closing non essential shops will make much difference to Covid rates if there are other measures in place (ventilation, masks etc), but will hurt a lot of people financially.

If nhs gets overwhelmed, what choices do staff have to make? How safe is it for people having ops if Covid is rife in wards etc. Do they turn people seriously ill with Covid away to make space for potential RTAs? It's a shite situation. I don't know the hospital figures for flu, but around 1/70 hospitalised Covid patients are under 10 years old.

@diggadoo

It's usually people who have only got experience with heavy colds who say this. Nobody who has had actual flu will say "just flu"

Agree. I was in ICU with the flu. Flu can lead to sepsis, and septic shock.

I am mid forties, very fit runner with no health conditions. I had Covid in March. I still can't exercise and am under a post Covid clinic. I have high blood pressure and my Thyroid is not functioning properly. Definitely not just a flu.

She hasn't had flu as far as I know and neither have I. Sorry, you're right, and I shouldn't have said "just". Sorry.

Just to add balance - I tested positive for covid 9 days ago and the only symptoms I've had have been loss of taste and smell. I'm pushing 50, unfit, and drink and smoke more than I should.

So yes, some people do suffer, but I haven't and neither has my partner who all tested positive despite having no symptoms at all.

*also not all

@joystir59

Spanish Flu was also "just the flu".

I'm glad you pointed this out before I came to the thread.

"Spanish flu" only caused 50 million deaths after infecting 500 million people.

www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resources/1918-commemoration/1918-pandemic-history.htm

Flu can be very serious OP.