Ben,
First, you have to realize that they ESTIMATE the number of infected to about 60 Million. Their standard answer. Which I laugh about, because honestly, how do they know?

Second, FLU Deaths are NORMALLY Inflated to sell vaccines. Any old person going to the hospital WITH The Flu dies of the flu if they die on the visit. Even if they die of MRSA, or Pneumonia. That's the NORMAL process.

Finally, when you REALIZE that this virus ESCAPED from a BIO WEAPONS Lab, by people PRACTICING "Gain of Function" improvements on viruses.
And you listen to a few Stefan Molyneaux Podcasts where One guy walks you through 4 Genetic Sequences that appear COPIED and PASTED from reference virii (including HIV-N1).

Then you factor in the PANIC that China Started by WELDING PEOPLE Into their homes to die!
Then how they STOPPED them from traveling WITHIN China, but let them LEAVE to other countries.

And then the lock downs here. You walk away with the the "understanding" that a Biological Weapon has escaped.
Once you are "there", you realize that your economy is meaningless if we can't get our arms around this thing.

While I can appreciate "Just let it hit us". It's a level of IGNORANCE beyond comprehension when you CONSIDER you are dealing with something that we don't know the final outcome of! Give us a bit of time to find out how well HCQ works, and other things, as well as WHEN to and when NOT TO use a ventilator, and that those actions can save 30% of the death toll.

I also QUESTION if we have good testing. FL is testing people and ~90% of sick people are testing NEGATIVE. Those are people who are getting the test because of supposed "symptoms"... That should NOT be the case, IMO... I would assume 30-50% of the people showing up at hospitals have the thing.

But this "SCIENCE" is a mess. And again, it looks like FEAR PORN to push ANOTHER ANNUAL VACCINE on us.
BTW, Vaccines are rarely EVER tested properly in RCTs, and NEVER tested for 30+ years of safety before being put in us.
Imagine that the ANNUAL Flu vaccine is new every year. Let that sink in. When did they do the RCT? They did not!

So, we SHOULD be asking questions. But we should also be aware that the problems are SO DEEP that the answers to some of these questions may be meaningless.

This virus WILL become endemic and ANNUAL. The lung scaring will be permanent in many. And the odds of getting a working vaccine is about NIL!

Meanwhile, masks should be worn. Vitamin D should be taken. And we SHOULD be getting back to work, as we know enough now!

We should look at the stats for deaths other than covid and see if they have decreased. That would indicate that more deaths are being reported as covid when they are actually other causes.

What about LA where the infected and death rates are reported as much lower than NYC?

Don't have an answer, Ben. I suspect it has reduced it because many are getting labeled as COVID when it hasn't been tested.

Does anyone here honestly believe Government Statistics? I don't care if it is the governments of China, Russia, Venezuela or these United States.
Doctors can't agree on the best treatment and will have differences among themselves when a vaccine is approved. Scientists can't seem to agree on genders and just how many there are. Well boys and girls, I can't agree on much of what any of these "Experts" have to say because a very good portion of them are full of shit!

The 2019 flu epidemic was probably COVID-19 (SEPT-DEC)

Tis is conjecture on my part, but I'm thinking that the same precautions (hand-washing disinfecting surfaces and door knobs, etc.) should also help to lower flu infection/deaths for this period--sort of "collateral salvage." Maybe we will get some data later from Dr. Fauci or some other epidemiologist to support this conjecture.

CDC directive to list all deaths, excluding the obvious ones from other causes, as covid19 deaths leads to the fact that stats lie.
Obviously an attempt to bolster the lagging model prediction numbers.
The left is being caught out in a lie and is continuing the lie. With the help of the MSM and various leftists pols.

2017 to 2018 winter. 80,000 flu deaths. No body shut down the economy for it. Don't be a lemming.

There seems to be a gap between the ways they are calling the cause of death. Then, they were basing the deaths, without a true figure of who was positive or had the antibodies. Then throw in the crooked or stupid "experts" who are calling the shots, and we likely will never know for sure. It has always beena bot wiat for the vaccine, until they finally saw that would not fly. With $350 million in American and Canadian funds poured into the labe in Wuhan, truth is not going to come anythime soon. I want to know if vaccine king Gates had money in that popt. How about Soros, who just wants to destroy the US and its poeple, however?

I have been trying to find that out. As you state: figures are only available for 18/19. We may not get figures till 21.

I did find these though: https://www.usnews.com/news/health-ne...

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/flu-deat...

Based on this estimate the answer is Yes, I think at least some of those numbers have gone to the covin side.

Remember, lock downs didn't really start till mid March.