When the flu first came, we had no understanding of it. We had no medicines. The incubation period was predictable, and most people showed symptoms very soon after they contracted it. Millions died. It was horrible. A couple of times it gutted society.
The flu now comes every year as a gradual tide. It’s been around a long time and has had much time to spread. Millions get the virus every year, and fewer than 0.1 percent of them die from it. As soon as the versions that we don't have vaccines show up, we are on top of it. We know how to recognize it, how to test for it, how to treat it. We have a vaccine, and many medications for it. We know how it progresses. We know how immunity works with it (and that it grows stronger). We have clinic and hospital space already built into the system to absorb it.
As a result, there's little social breakdown. And yeah, it still sucks.
C19 is a tidal wave by comparison. And there are no meds. People get better and then suddenly get worse and die. In some, it leaves lung scars and kidney damage, and yet children are barely affected by it, which makes it different than what modern medicine understands. We don't know why it transition from upper respiratory to lower respiratory in some, but not others, so there's no way to anticipate how bad it will be for a healthy individual. It appears that our immune systems are weakened by it. It has already morphed into at least one new version, but we aren't sure. The health care system can't absorb a hit of millions of infections in a short period of time. Health care for all health conditions will be eroded by its presence.