We have been dealing with the coronavirus outbreak for about a month now. How do the numbers compare against what we have seen from the flu this season?
According to Johns Hopkins University, the U.S. has seen more than 530,000 coronavirus cases compared to the annual numbers of flu cases, which are between 9.3 and 45 million every year. Infectious disease expert Patty Olinger says it's not easy which of these viruses had a bigger impact.
"There have been a lot of mile cases that we know of where people didn't even go to the doctor. So the estimated numbers really are estimated," Olinger said, adding that we don't even know for sure when the virus really first came to America. Olinger says our answers aren't going to come for a while.
"There will be a lot of research at some point that goes into this virus, how it has spread, and how we can prepare for the next pandemic," Olinger stated.
The university's numbers show that there have been more than 21,000 deaths from COVID-19 in the United States; compared to the annual 12,000 to 61,000 deaths from the flu.