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Claim: The seasonal flu kills more people every year in the U.S. than COVID-19 has to date. Throughout the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, countless social media posts, high

profile pundits, and even the president attempted to downplay the threat of the virus in the U.S. in various ways, including comparing its death toll to that of the seasonal flu: This claim

is false and dangerously downplays the severity of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. In terms of the case fatality rate, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) describes

as the number of people who die from a given condition, medical experts argue that COVID-19 is, in fact, deadlier than the seasonal flu. Though COVID-19 fatality rates vary largely depending

on available medical infrastructure within a country, Johns Hopkins University of Medicine reports that in July 2020, the U.S. was among the 20 countries most affected by the virus and had

a mortality rate of 3.4%. In early 2022, that rate had decreased to around 1.4%. By comparison, flu infections over the last decade have resulted in a mortality rate hovering around .1%.

COVID-19 is also deadlier in terms of how many people are estimated to die from it per year. Preliminary estimates from the CDC found that the 2018-19 influenza season resulted in an

estimated 34,200 deaths in the U.S. As of July 27, 2020, more than 4.2 million COVID-19 cases had been reported across 50 states, seven territories and Washington, D.C., and more than

146,500 deaths were associated with the respiratory disease -- nearly four times the death toll associated with the 2018-19 flu season. Influenza impacts can vary widely from year to year

and while the infection places a "substantial burden on the health of people in the U.S. every year," estimated annual deaths caused by the flu over the last decade are

significantly lower than COVID-19 deaths reported in the first seven months of 2020: Source: CDC The last influenza _pandemic_, caused by influenza A (H1N1), occurred in 2009. Nicknamed the

“swine flu,” the global outbreak resulted in approximately 61 million cases, 274,000 hospitalizations, and 12,500 deaths in the U.S. over the following year, according to the National

Library of Medicine. Comparisons aside, experts warned that the U.S. will now see the impacts of COVID-19 alongside the next flu season, which will compound the difficulties faced by already

overburdened hospitals and health care workers in many states. “Even in non-pandemic years, influenza and other etiologies of pneumonia represent the eighth leading cause of death in the

United States, and respiratory viruses are the most commonly identified pathogens among hospitalized patients with community-acquired pneumonia,” wrote Dr. Benjamin Singer, a Northwestern

Medicine pulmonologist who treats COVID-19 patients, in an editorial published in Science Advances. Both the flu and COVID-19 can be severe respiratory diseases but they are caused by

different types of viruses. The flu is caused by four types of influenza viruses (A, B, C, and D), whereas COVID-19 is caused by the coronavirus dubbed SARS-CoV-2, notes the CDC. The

severity of infection by coronavirus or influenza is largely dependent on a number of factors, including underlying medical conditions and age. Both the flu and COVID-19 can have similar

symptoms and health officials note that it is important to stay vigilant and practice proper hygiene and social distancing measures. _Snopes is still FIGHTING an “infodemic” of rumors and

misinformation surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, and you can help. FIND OUT what we've learned and how to inoculate yourself against COVID-19 misinformation. READ the latest fact

checks about the vaccines. Submit any questionable rumors and “advice” you encounter. BECOME A FOUNDING MEMBER to help us hire more fact-checkers. And, please, follow the CDC or WHO for

guidance on protecting your community from the disease. _ ------------------------- SOURCES Horowitz, Daniel.   "Horowitz: The CDC Confirms Remarkably Low Coronavirus Death Rate. Where

Is The Media?"     _Conservative Review_.   22 May 2020.   _CDC COVID Data Tracker_.   "United States COVID-19 Cases and Deaths By State."     27 July 2020. Shrestha, Sundar,

et al.   "Estimating the Burden of 2009 Pandemic Influenza A (H1N1) in the United States (April 2009-April 2010)."     _Clinical Infectious Diseases_.   1 Jan 2011.   Broadfoot,

Maria.   "Coronavirus and the Flu: A Looming Double Threat."     _Scientific American_.   4 June 2020. Singer, Benjamin.   "COVID-19 and the Next Influenza Season."    

_Science Advances_.   29 May 2020. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention. "Assessing Risk Factors."     _Cases, Data & Surveillance_.   25 June 2020. Faust, Jeremy, del

Rio, Carlos.   "Assessment of Deaths From COVID-19 and From Seasonal Influenza."     _JAMA Internal Medicine_.   14 May 2020.