The Coronavirus Isn’t Just the Flu, Bro
Results from recent blood tests show how widely the disease has spread, and they indicate that Covid-19 is many times deadlier than seasonal influenza.
Hospitals know how deadly this is.
Photographer: Pascal Pochard-Casabianca/AFP/Getty Images
The results from the first blood surveys that test for evidence of antibodies to the new coronavirus have begun rolling in. They’ve been confirming earlier hints that in hard-hit places a significant share of people — 21.2% in the New York City survey — may have been infected with the virus, and that in most other places the percentages are still in the low single digits. They’re also making it ever clearer that the disease caused by the virus, Covid-19, is much, much deadlier than influenza.
“It’s just the flu, bro” has been a sort of know-nothing rallying cry for those skeptical of government lockdowns and social-distancing efforts this spring. But it has also been the base case of a few prominent experts, such as John Ioannidis of the Stanford University School of Medicine and former Swedish state epidemiologist Johan Giesecke.