Pres. Trump once again likened the coronavirus to the seasonal flu

On Tuesday, shortly after his release from Walter Reed hosipital after testing positive for COVID-19, Pres. Trump tweeted, “Flu season is coming up! Many people every year, sometimes over 100,000, and despite the Vaccine, die from the Flu. Are we going to close down our Country? No, we have learned to live with it, just like we are learning to live with Covid, in most populations far less lethal!!!”

Similar to his previous statements comparing the seasonal flue to COVID-19, this is misleading. The number of deaths from the flu cited by Trump is wrong, and in recent years there have been far fewer deaths from seasonal flu. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 22,000 people in the U.S. died from the flu during the last flu season. For the flu season between 2018 and 2019, the CDC said that about 34,000 people died. And for the previous flu season, there were 61,000 deaths.

As of October 6th, the U.S. surpassed 210,000 deaths from COVID-19. Some models suggests twice that number by end of the year. 

Sources:

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-compares-covid-flu-experts-say-he-s-flat-wrong-n1242258

https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/past-seasons.html

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2766121