[jyl]

We've talked about this quite a lot already. I guess you didn't do a search?

The answer is that if you are an infant, child, or young adult, your risk from H1N1 this year was far higher than from normal seasonal flu. If you are an elderly person, your risk from H1N1 this year was substantially lower than from seasonal.

Through mid-Dec, appx 1200 children (0-17 years) died from H1N1, including appx 240 pediatric, appx 8600 adults (18-64 years) died, and appx 1400 elderly (65+). That is very different from seasonal flu, whose deaths are 90% among older people. The chart George posted shows the comparison for pediatric - this is 4X the normal death rate.

If a 2 y/o dies, typically 70+ years of future life are erased. If a 70 y/o dies, typically a few years of future life is erased. I believe that, if you total how many years of future life have been erased, H1N1 has already been more severe than seasonal flu.

I think it is bizzare to complain that we did too much about H1N1 or that not enough people were killed. If someone told you a disease is coming that could kill tens of 10,000s of children and young adults in the US over 8 months - who wouldn't normally die otherwise - wouldn't you expect the medical authorities to try their best to fight it? Vaccination, treatment, prevention, public awareness? And if it turned out that "only" 10,000 such people died, would you then complain that the authorities shouldn't have bothered responding?

I think you should wear a T-shirt that says "NOT ENOUGH PEOPLE DIED FROM H1N1". On the backside it can read "I LIKE TO COMPLAIN".