First of all - 0.2% is NOT comparable with the seasonal flu. BAD years of seasonal flu end up with about 0.1%. Second, pretty much all estimations to day put the death rate at 1 to 3-4%.
I really would wish people would stop comparing this to the flu. This is first MUCH MORE DEADLY and second MUCH MORE INFECTIOUS. This type of rhetoric is not helpful or truthful.
Sorry. That's not based on a loose projection. That is the actual data. It is truthful.
Here are today's Utah statistics:
** 719 positive diagnoses from a base of 13,993 tests administered to people showing symptoms
** 95% of tests are negative, meaning they have the flu or some other viral infection
** 2 deaths have occurred so far, resulting in a fatality rate of 0.28%
** Both fatalities were patients with underlying conditions
** If we assume that there are at least another 700 or so people out there with the infection who have not been tested, the fatality rate drops into the 0.12% - 0.17% range, which is indeed comparable with seasonal flu.
Yes, I understand that it takes people time to succumb to the virus and hence there is a lag in deaths relative to diagnoses. So we'll sit back and continue to watch data come in over the next 10 days or 2 weeks.
Also, you need to understand what the governments are trying to achieve with social distancing. They are already resigned to the fact that the Covid-19 virus is out there and that it will very likely become a regularly circulating and mutating coronavirus along with the other 18. The sole purpose of "flattening the curve" is to slow the rate of infection within the population so that local hospitals and their medical equipment do not get overwhelmed with cases all at once. There is currently no medical intervention other than to make sure the patient has oxygen while their body fights the virus.
Approximately, 15% - 18% of people who contract the virus will require hospitalization. A few areas in the U.S. (especially New York) are at the point where their medical facilities are becoming strained by the patient load. Most areas, however, are not strained and are not becoming strained.
Right now, the infection rate in Utah is less than 1 person per 5,000. So rest assured, when people here do get exposed to the virus, there will be a hospital bed and a respirator waiting for them, should they be needed.