But technically isnt it just another flu ?
The problem is that people use the term 'flu' to downplay how serious Covid-19 is. I've seen you use the term flu when referring to it, I don't know whether that's your intention?
Without getting into the technicalities of viruses (which certainly I'd be unable to do), for the umpteenth time for those who are hard of understanding:
Flu comes every year. A few thousand are killed in the UK, mainly older people. Virtually everyone has some degree of immunity to it (by virtue of having lived on planet earth and having an immune system) and thankfully there's a vaccine which comes out every year. The vaccine normally works well. I can't remember any particular issue with the NHS being at threat of being completely overwhelmed by the flu. By the Spring, this year's flu is pretty well dying out.
Covid-19 is brand new. It's apparently more contagious than flu and no-one has immunity because no-one has been subjected to it before. It's a more devious virus than the flu because the incubation period can be longer, and people can carry it and be able to pass it on with no symptoms themselves. So it's a lot harder to control its spread. Crucially there is NO VACCINE yet, and there won't be for some time. The NHS is in grave danger of being overrun with critical cases of Covid-19. Because of that, all elective surgery has been put on hold and this may easily put 6mths on the waiting list for pretty well everything. If the NHS
does get overrun, dying people will effectively have to be turned away from intensive care beds while they effectively die from asphyxiation while their bodies burn out of control. Every country in the world is shit-scared of having an uncontrollable outbreak, and even Donald Trump is firced to concede it's actually a big deal.
None of this is me being clever or a smartarse, it's on the telly every day. Perhaps you got fed up with it so you turned it off? It is a free country of course.
So please, feel free to keep calling it 'flu', because obviously doing so will a) probably prevent you from catching it, b) will prevent anyone in your family catching it, c) no-one you know will die of it and d) obviously it's no big deal as far as the NHS is concerned, so your hernia operation can go ahead, as well as getting your ingrown toenails sorted out at your local surgery. Everything is just fine, and no-one need worry unduly.
If you think sticking your fingers in your ears and going la-la-la-la-la would help too, then that's probably to be recommended as well.
