Which flu, and what do you mean more lethal? What is the mortality rate in the US for Covid-19 in the light of the estimated infected in the US (not Italy), even with the Wash. nursing home and cruise ship outliers? Asking, not contending.
During the 2017-2018 season, the percentage of deaths attributed to pneumonia and influenza (P&I) was at or above the epidemic threshold for 16 consecutive weeks. Nationally, mortality attributed to P&I exceeded 10.0% for four consecutive weeks, peaking at 10.8% during the week ending January 20, 2018, (https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/season/flu-season-2017-2018.htm) with older Americans dying at a rate of 169 Americans a day, or seven people per hour. (https://www.aarp.org/health/conditions-treatments/info-2018/older-flu-deaths-rising.html
And according to another CDC estimate for 2017-2018 season 80,000 people died of the flu in U.S, the highest death toll in 40 years. (https://www.usnews.com/news/health-care-news/articles/2018-09-27/cdc-80-000-people-died-of-flu-complications-last-season-in-us)
From 12 April 2009 to 10 April 2010, we estimate that approximately 60.8 million cases (range: 43.3-89.3 million), 274,304 hospitalizations (195,086-402,719), and 12,469 deaths (8868-18,306) occurred in the United States due to pH1N1. Eighty-seven percent of deaths occurred in those under 65 years of age with children and working adults having risks of hospitalization and death 4 to 7 times and 8 to 12 times greater, respectively, than estimates of impact due to seasonal influenza covering the years 1976-2001. In our study, adults 65 years of age or older were found to have rates of hospitalization and death that were up to 75% and 81%, respectively, lower than seasonal influenza.
Which flu? What the CDC tracks as seasonal flu which includes several strains. It has a case mortality rate of 0.1%.
The Case mortality rate is deaths/confirmed cases. It doesn’t include people who don’t get sick enough to get tested, but that’s true of both CV and the flu.
It’s too early in the US to really say. But currently it stands at 250 deaths/ 19285 confirmed cases = 1.3%. We are behind the curve on testing, And if we were doing more testing, we might have identified more cases that would drive that rate down. On the other hand, if you could follow just those 19285 cases, then 1.3% represents a floor, as more people in that group will die. Only 147 people have recovered in the us. So 0.7% have recovered. That means 98% of those 19,285 are still sick.
As far as a population mortality rate, which is deaths/population, CV is lower than the Flu. But that’s only because CV is not yet as widely spread as the Flu. And there is every indication this spreads as easily as the flu. And once it’s wide spread we will see the population mortality rate for CV exceed Flu.