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French researchers have investigated deaths related to the coronavirus. Their study makes it clear: Covid-19 is much more serious than the flu.
A Covid 19 disease is almost three times more deadly than the flu: French researchers found this in a study published Friday in the journal “The Lancet Respiratory Medicine.” They looked at deaths in hospitals from 2018 to 2020.
Covid-19 is more serious than the flu
In the study, scientists from the national research institute Inserm evaluated data from more than 135,000 French patients. Of those, 89,530 were hospitalized with coronavirus-induced Covid-19 lung disease in March and April. Of these patients, more than 15,000, or 16.9 percent, died. The scientists compared this to deaths from influenza: more than 2,600 out of a total of 45,800 patients in the winter of 2018/2019, corresponding to a rate of 5.8 percent.
“Our study is the largest ever to compare the two diseases,” said co-author Catherine Quantin of Dijon University Hospital. “It confirms that Covid-19 is more serious than the flu.” This is also shown in a comparison with the 2018/2019 flu winter, which “in terms of deaths was the worst in France in the last five years,” Quantin emphasized.
Covid patients also had to be treated more frequently in intensive care units: the rate for them was 16.3 percent, for flu patients, however, only 10.8 percent. Also, Covid patients received intensive treatment for longer on average.
Covid-19 affects children and adolescents less frequently
With nearly 20 percent of patients, the flu also affects children and teens much more often, who have a better chance of recovery. In contrast, only 1.4 percent of Covid patients at the hospital were in this age group.
In their study, however, the researchers stated two restrictions: First, the tests for flu patients are not as systematic as those for corona patients, so their number may be underestimated. Also, it is not known with certainty how representative the 2018/2019 flu winter will be compared to other years.
