How many people die of the flu in the United States?

As the number of deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States passes 200,000, the country is headed into the annual influenza season, with some experts warning of the potential of a “twindemic.”

While health experts encourage everyone to get a flu vaccine to reduce their risk of catching the flu, President Donald Trump exaggerated the number of deaths that the country sees from the seasonal flu on social media Tuesday morning, before the posts were removed from Facebook and hidden by Twitter.

Flu season is coming up! Many people every year, sometimes over 100,000, and despite the Vaccine, die from the Flu. Are we going to close down our Country? No, we have learned to live with it, just like we are learning to live with Covid, in most populations far less lethal!!!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 6, 2020

However, influenza related deaths in the United States range from 12,000 to 61,000 annually over the last decade, according to the CDC.

Flu Season/Estimated Number of Deaths

2019/2020: 22,000

2018/2019: 34,200

2017/2018: 61,000

2016/2017: 38,000

2015/2016: 23,000

2014/2015: 51,000

2013/2014: 38,000

2012/2013: 43,000

2011/2012: 12,000

2010/2011: 37,000

Globally, the seasonal flu kills somewhere between 290,000 to 650,000 a year, according to the World Health Organization. There have been more than 1 million deaths related to COVID-19 so far in 2020.

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