Originally Posted by
Doge
Funny we were posting similar at the same time. Statista wants $59/month from me, so I have to search a lot. I have been keeping my own spreadsheet and seeing the trends.
I really want to see the influenza trends which I expect will be way down from the 20K so deaths in the USA due to the behavior changes forced on the population. I expect auto accidents to go down too.
Best data we've got so far is from the CDC, on estimated influenza infections, hospitalizations and deaths from the 2018-2019 flu season. Basically: 35M infections; 16.5M health care provider visits; 490K hospitalizations; and 34K deaths. Still estimates, aka the estimated burden of influenza for the season.
No telling what the Oct-May 2019/2020 season's results might be, when all's tallied. I suspect you're correct, that the numbers are likely to be down somewhat, though technically since the flu season doesn't begin, again, until October, it's hard to predict whether close-contacts starting in October will be fewer. Likely, folks who didn't have a "keep your distance" protocol previously will still have a much-stricter regimen come October. We'll see.
As for comparing stats on things: indeed, it'd be nice if all nations and states reported per-capita rates along with the raw numbers. Else, people are forced to figure it out prior to appreciating the meaningfulness of a given number. As with traffic fatalities, for example, knowing how many is all well and good, but knowing the fatality
per-capita rate is vital if one is to appreciate the relative risk of that activity. Until the COVID-19 stuff gets put into such terms, it's not going to be easy to see comparative impacts across states or nations.
As well, just knowing the number of hospitals, hospitalizations, recoveries and deaths doesn't say anything about a given nation's effectiveness in the area: of doctors and nurses, of triage, of procedural effectiveness, of prior experience, of how full or stressed the pipeline is for supplies and treatments (ie, lack of antivirals, lack of respiratory assists [machines, O2 delivery masks], blood products, or even lack of TP/gauze). The numbers might be high, but if a given nation's got stellar staff, procedures and inventories ...
Interesting problem. A painful readjustment of appreciation for the risks and "cures," at all levels. Hopefully good learning comes from it, in all societies.