Denver's Flu History: Shedding Light On What A Coronavirus Outbreak Could Look Like

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I remember the Swine Flu vaccinations in 1976. I was a healthy teenager when I got the vaccine and I came down with the chills for two days. A lot of people I talked to said they got sick from the vaccine also.

You wrote this about two weeks ago when the Corona virus situation hadn't yet evolved, rapidly, into what it is today. The scenario you describe of the Spanish Flu in Denver sounds a lot like what's going on today.

Thanks for sharing your memories of the 1975 Swine Flu vaccine, Jude. Sounds like it was a rough vaccination. And yes, lots of parallels to Spanish Flu right now. Stay well!

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Since the 1968 H3N2 killed as many as it did, is the present Covid19 US government reaction overdoing it? I was 16 in 1968 and can't recall anything about it. My mom used to call these "bad flu years".

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Since the 1968 H3N2 killed as many as it did, is the present Covid19 US government reaction overdoing it? I was 16 in 1968 and can't recall anything about it. My mom used to call these "bad flu years".

Hi Frederick,

Thank you for your comment. To answer your question, let's take look at the statistical differences between 1968's influenza pandemic and 2020's Covid-19 pandemic.

Colorado reported 50,317 flu cases and 955 flu-related deaths (death rate of 1.9%) for the entire year of 1968.

So far in 2020 (reporting from 3/5/2020 through 4/12/20), Colorado has reported 7,303 confirmed Covid-19 cases and 290 deaths (death rate of 3.97%). The first deaths in Colorado were reported on March 13.

Covid-19 does not have a vaccine (nor FDA-approved treatments), so if the current monthly death rate (290 deaths) were to hold steady in Colorado through mid-December 2020, Colorado would count 2,610 deaths. In comparison, the 1968 influenza pandemic killed 955 Coloradans.

In reply to by Katie Rudolph

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"Colorado would count 2,610 deaths. In comparison, the 1968 influenza pandemic killed 955 Coloradans."
-Does this take into account that Colorado's population has grown from 2.12 million in 1968 to 5.8 million in 2020? If not, triple the number of deaths in 1968 would not be cuase for alarm.

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