evidence: Al-Aly told MedPage Today that his group was actually surprised by the results. "We pretty much bought into the public narrative and drank the Kool-Aid like everybody, thinking that COVID is no longer [more deadly than the flu], although ... there was no data," he said. "But the verdict is out now, because we've analyzed the data from the 2023-2024 COVID season and clearly COVID mortality is still higher than the flu." [...] However, the results did reveal that the risk of mortality in patients hospitalized with COVID-19 had fallen when compared to the previous 2022-2023 season. In their 2023 study, using the same database and methods, Al-Aly's group found that in the fall and winter of 2022-2023, COVID was about 60% more deadly than the flu in patients hospitalized for the illnesses. "We should continue to take COVID seriously," Al-Aly emphasized. "I know we're all sick and tired of this pandemic and all of us have pandemic fatigue, but COVID is still more of a threat to health than the flu."