Heat shock is hundreds of times more deadly than the coronavirus

Today I gave a lecture at Tohoku University of Art and Design together with Professor Takeuchi and Professor Hoshi.

Dr. Hoshi is a former Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare employee with a medical license, and has also written the insurance textbooks used in compulsory education.

Professor Hoshi's lectures are always full of strong content, but today he also spoke about the coronavirus. As of today, I believe two Japanese people have died from the coronavirus in Japan. However, it is said that 2 Japanese people die from heat shock in Japan each year. According to Professor Hoshi's calculations, that's 1 people per day in winter. The title says that the figure is several hundred times higher, but when compared like this, it turns out to be a rather modest figure.

Similarly, it is said that 1 people die from influenza every year. This also occurs every year, unlike coronavirus. The number of cases is overwhelmingly higher for influenza, but the mortality rate for coronavirus is 2%, while that for influenza is 0%, so it may be said that coronavirus is more frightening in this respect alone.

A while ago, a book called "Factfulness" became popular. It was a book that brilliantly exposed the human tendency to often interpret things based on preconceptions without looking at the data accurately. I don't watch the news on TV, but I think the current coverage of the coronavirus is clearly unbalanced. Of course, I can understand the news about the interruption of supplies...