Are there more deaths per week from the flu, car accidents, cancer (all types), heart disease or Covid?

In the United States

I can't believe that people are still dying in the 21st century.

We should all live forever at this point.

I will link the answer to this but I thought a few people that seem so knowledgeable would venture a guess first.

(Of course you find the answer yourself)

How many threads need to be created or derailed with meaningless comparisons like this?

A week ago Covid still trailed heart disease by a few hundred deaths per week, but was ahead of all other causes per the Washington post.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/04/16/coronavirus-leading-cause-death/?arc404=true

Getting Old wrote:

A week ago Covid still trailed heart disease by a few hundred deaths per week, but was ahead of all other causes per the Washington post.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/04/16/coronavirus-leading-cause-death/?arc404=true

And in the period April 15-April 22, COVID-19 deaths are up to just over 19,000 in the US, making it the leading cause of death by a substantial margin, about 50%, over heart disease or cancer.

And in some ways that is an understatement, since it is averaging across the country as a whole. Lots of places don't have it bad at all, due to the distancing measures we're taking etc. Other places, like NYC, have COVID deaths more than 10x the next leading cause of death.

On the other hand, COVID will hopefully 'only' last for a year or whatever until we have a vaccine or it burns through everyone, whereas cancer and heart disease just keep on rolling.

Medical malpractice deaths are higher than any of those...yet, people love going to the doctor while making fun of alternative treatments...which kill 2 per year.

There are about 15,000 deaths from abortions each week.

priv wrote:

How many threads need to be created or derailed with meaningless comparisons like this?

This is absolutely not meaningless, but addresses the question about the seriousness of this pandemic head on. Just because you don't want to have to think about real facts don't call it meaningless.

My most recent data, is slightly different than a previous posters because it now has covid as the number one killer in the most recent week. (Not at my computer so I won't link the source now). Flu deaths were not even remotely close. So anyone saying covid is the same is speaking nonsense.

This is just reality people. Nobody likes this reality, but pretending it's not so, doesn't make covid less deadly.

Sometimes reality sucks.

dababies wrote:

There are about 15,000 deaths from abortions each week.

Totally irrelevant, but as long as you bring it up, just be thankful that supposed 15,000 are not people but just a small part of a person getting the abortion. But don't worry, the person getting the abortion is usually fine.

reality. wrote:

Medical malpractice deaths are higher than any of those...yet, people love going to the doctor while making fun of alternative treatments...which kill 2 per year.

Except every study you can find that argues that point is not counting deaths caused by medical malpractice, it's counting deaths not prevented that could have possibly been prevented with 'perfect' medical care. Applying the same standard to alternative treatments would produce huge numbers. Most alternative treatments are benign and essentially equal to a placebo. In the off chance they cause harm they get shut down pretty quick. On that note, I still think you are lying unless you can cite an actual source saying it's only 2 deaths per year.

reality based thinking wrote:

dababies wrote:

There are about 15,000 deaths from abortions each week.

Totally irrelevant, but as long as you bring it up, just be thankful that supposed 15,000 are not people but just a small part of a person getting the abortion. But don't worry, the person getting the abortion is usually fine.

Um, no, babies are people too.

It isn't true that deaths from medical errors are higher than from cancer, heart disease, or COVID-19. Even the (sensational, likely incorrect) high estimates are for 'just' 5,000 deaths per week from medical errors - around 25% of the current death toll from COVID-19. More credible estimates range from 300-700 deaths per week from medical errors in the US, which is only 2-3% of the current deaths from COVID-19.

mileage_man wrote:

It isn't true that deaths from medical errors are higher than from cancer, heart disease, or COVID-19. Even the (sensational, likely incorrect) high estimates are for 'just' 5,000 deaths per week from medical errors - around 25% of the current death toll from COVID-19. More credible estimates range from 300-700 deaths per week from medical errors in the US, which is only 2-3% of the current deaths from COVID-19.

Though to be clear, obviously that's still a big problem!

dababies wrote:

reality based thinking wrote:

Totally irrelevant, but as long as you bring it up, just be thankful that supposed 15,000 are not people but just a small part of a person getting the abortion. But don't worry, the person getting the abortion is usually fine.

Um, no, babies are people too.

Right now there are over ten thousand frozen fertilized eggs (zygotes) are they people too?

reality. wrote:

Medical malpractice deaths are higher than any of those...yet, people love going to the doctor while making fun of alternative treatments...which kill 2 per year.

IIRC, most of those medical malpractice deaths are in the hospital not going to your doc for an annual exam.

reality based thinking wrote:

dababies wrote:

Um, no, babies are people too.

Right now there are over ten thousand frozen fertilized eggs (zygotes) are they people too?

Yes.

Getting Old wrote:

A week ago Covid still trailed heart disease by a few hundred deaths per week, but was ahead of all other causes per the Washington post.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/04/16/coronavirus-leading-cause-death/?arc404=true

I am not diminishing this, but we also need to consider how cause of death is reported. Do we count COVID deaths in the same way as we do flu deaths for instance. Going back to the early AIDS days, AIDS was never listed as a cause of death because what killed them was pneumonia from something else. It took a while for AIDS to be listed as a contributing factor.

And it could go either way in terms of deaths attributed to and not attributed to COVID.

dababies wrote:

reality based thinking wrote:

Right now there are over ten thousand frozen fertilized eggs (zygotes) are they people too?

Yes.

No one declares them as dependents. Should those people (zygotes) get a stimulus check too?