In England, COVID is now less deadly than the flu. But what about in the U.S.?
The latest coronavirus news out of the U.K. may offer a sign of hope as the United States and other countries try to put the winter’s enormous Omicron wave behind them and transition into a less disruptive and dangerous phase of the pandemic.
For the first time, a person who catches COVID in England has a lower chance of dying than someone who catches the flu, according to a new analysis by the London-based Financial Times — regardless of how old the individual is.
But by charting England’s infection fatality ratio (IFR) over time, the paper found that today, just 35 of every 100,000 Omicron infections are resulting in death — less than the 40 deaths that result from every 100,000 flu infections.