I think that you might have misunderstood the point of the quote. Context, in all things, matters. Or, put another way, while you might be technically correct (the BEST kind of correct), that wasn't what was being discussed.
Use this as an example-
"Why worry, it's just a cold."
I mean, a person
could say that, given that "cold" is the name we give to several other coronaviruses that we collectively refer to as "getting a cold." But the use of that, while perhaps in some ways correct, is misleading.
With that in mind, let's look at what the doctor was referring to. One of the issues in Italy (as well as other places) is that people who desired for business to go on as usual kept telling people not to worry, it's just like "the flu," or at worse, "a bad flu." The reason that someone would refer to it in this way is it allowed people to put it in the context of something that isn't harmful, and that they experience on an annual basis. "Oh yeah, the flu. Well, that's not great, but whatever, it happens every year. No need to panic over the flu." Because that's the association most people have- what they experience on a yearly basis.
So when the doctor said this isn't like the flu (bad or otherwise), he was speaking to those who had been told not to worry- it's just a bad flu. Like happens every year. That was what he was saying. It's not just a "bad flu."
Which brings up two separate points:
A. Yes, the Spanish Flu was terrible. Historically terrible. But there is no one alive who remembers how terrible it was. That's not a useful comparator. And sometimes the flu can be exceptionally, pandemically bad (not just "bad"). My father used to tell me about the '57 flu, and how going to college was like going to a ghost town. It was no Spanish Flu, but it was pretty terrible. Again, though, context matters. People who are comparing it to the flu (or a bad flu, even) aren't trying to trigger memories of the Spanish Flu! They are trying to minimize the severity of the issue.*
B. There are several related issues with Covid19 that are also dangerous when it spreads unchecked. Among these are the issues that it presents in many ways in a similar manner to flu and/or cold (when both are still circulating) and that it will overwhelm hospital capacity and/or health care workers; for the issue of health care capacity, it isn't just the immediate problems caused by Covid19, there are the other, separate issues of other health care issues that either won't be, or can't be treated in a timely manner.
Now, all of that said, I want to reiterate the point I made at the beginning. I am not an authority on any of this. Please pay attention to trusted health authorities in your area and not to random people on the internet and facebook.
Stay safe.
*Whether correctly, to reduce panic and put it in perspective, or incorrectly and dangerously, is an exercise for others to decide.
