Analysis: Excess mortality shows that Covid-19 killed more people in one month than the most recent severe flu season did in three By Gerard McCarthy, Rebecca Dempsey, Andrew Parnell, Maynooth University and Pádraig MacCarron, University of Limerick Comments by a senior HSE doctor that Covid-19 is "much less severe" than the seasonal flu sparked heated debate about the deadliness of the virus and robust defence of the ongoing restrictions and measures to combat the virus.
Analysing excess mortality derived from postings to the death notice website RIP.ie, we clearly observe that excess mortality patterns in Ireland during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic were not comparable to recent flu seasons.