One of the issues I have with the flu comparison is that, unlike flu, c19 is far more deadly, unpredictable, and still unknown in its biomechanisms, including long term effects on survivors of it and interactions with other conditions. There isn't a predictable mortality baseline. It could kill or disable a man in his 50s in reasonable health, it could leave untouched another man in his 50s who was a chain smoker, had a heart problem, and a bit too fond of beer and take aways, even though the latter would be considered much higher risk. Similarly c19 has and could kill or disable a woman with a previously undiagnosed heart condition in her late 30s, or someone of that age with no pre existing condition at all, while a woman in her 70s may be able to shrug it off. Yet it is something you can catch as easily as the flu, or for a more accurate comparison, a cold, and is transmitted as easily as a cold from person to person. But has far more potential for poor or fatal outcomes than flu, across a much broader sweep of people.
We know a lot more than we did, a knowledge written sadly in blood, but still don't know the precise mechanisms, the interactions it has between biochemistries. It behaves in ways we've not seen before, it's genuinely a novel set of mechanisms that will take a lot of research to understand.
A good proportion or dare I say most, apart from high risk elderly, of the data verified higher risk groups for c19 (men, 65>, the elderly, obese, existing conditions) would shrug off the flu, but you have no such assurance with c19. You don't know if you will be fine, perhaps even symptomless, you don't know if you will end up in hospital or have long covid or degrade extremely quickly without realising something was wrong, as many people did in the early days of the pandemic. You can make some prediction based on your risk group, but there are still so many unknowns about c19 and it doesn't behave in the same way as any other virus we know. Yet you can catch as easily as a flu or a cold because it is a Corona virus, and the potential outcomes are far more unpredictable and far more inclined to fatality over a broader spread of groups than the flu.
C19 isn't going away and we do have to learn to live with it. But I think it's a mistake to think of it like flu, whatever side of the fence you are on.
Thank you for coming to my Ted talk