UPDATED: It's The Middle Of Summer In Oz!

Why should we care? Here's why:

Eric Feigl-Ding
@DrEricDing 

Why should we all care & deeply worry about New South Wales, Australia‘s 171 #COVID19 cases? Because it is the MIDDLE OF SUMMER THERE!!! This virus will not be die out when summer comes to Northern Hemisphere. Forget that fantasy. We are stuck with it until vaccine arrives! Eric Feigl-Ding, Epidemiologist / Health Economist / Senior Fellow @FAScientists / V.Scientist @Harvard

11:53 PM · Mar 15, 2020

On another epidemiological note, earlier this week I did some research on flu vaccination in the US. After all, we hear about the many millions of flu cases, and the tens of thousands of flu deaths every year that are supposed to be quite tolerable. The costs of preventing this would outweigh any imagined benefits. I say 'imagined' benefits because the apparently official Liberal position is that keeping people alive past 75 is not a benefit--unless they're a Dem running for President.

Anyway.

What I found was interesting.

Among the highest at risk demographic--those over 65--the flu vaccination rate hit 68%. That means that among those at by far the greatest risk of dying from the flu, fully one-third didn't bother being vaccinated.

Among children under 5 the vaccination rate reaches 70%, probably because those children are more likely to receive a regular checkup with a pediatrician.

However, in the great middle ground of 5-65 the vaccination rate tops out around 47%. That includes the vast majority of working people and younger people in schools.

Is it any wonder that flu is so widespread, year after year, in the US? Wouldn't the country be better off with near universal vaccination?

Not surprisingly, studies on the economic burden of the flu have been done, such as this one: Economic burden of seasonal influenza in the United States. Frankly, I was a bit surprised that the total cost wasn't higher. Here are the results, reformatted:

RESULTS:

The estimated average annual total economic burden of influenza to the healthcare system and society was $11.2 billion ($6.3-$25.3 billion). Direct medical costs were estimated to be $3.2 billion ($1.5-$11.7 billion) and indirect costs $8.0 billion ($4.8-$13.6 billion). These total costs were based on the estimated average numbers of  

(1) ill-non medically attended patients (21.6 million),
(2) office-based outpatient visits (3.7 million),
(3) emergency department visit (0.65 million)
(4) hospitalizations (247.0 thousand),
(5) deaths (36.3 thousand) and
(6) days of productivity lost (20.1 million).

Bear in mind that these average statistics reflect a "flu season" that runs from September to May. The Covid-19 outbreak has been concentrated within a much narrower time frame--so far. It may well become endemic, like the flu.

UPDATE: What happens with the flu during warm weather? And Why We Shouldn’t Hope COVID-19 Is Seasonal Like The Flu

It's an informative discussion that brings in the example of SARS--important, because Covid-19 is a SARS-like virus. BTW, SARS infected people tend to show symptoms right away, so that's a help for public health people.