ELI5….. pandemic preparedness was previously talked about with influenza in mind… Why influenza and not another type of virus?
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Because flu kills a lot of people.
OK, COVID is a once-in-a-thousand-years corona virus that’s killing people. Most corona viruses cause “the common cold”.
Most of the time (even the Spanish Flu from 100 years ago) it’s the flu killing people. Since 2000, flu’s killed about 40K people a year. [{ref}](https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/index.html )
While it’s not always the flu (some times it’s the Bubonic Plague, or Cholera), it’s usually the flu that’s causing a massive death problem.
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