[nomadking]

Originally Posted by Chris

Yeah ... repeating the same falsehoods with bold and caps doesn’t make you right.

Plenty was printed in the middle of last year about the crucial differences between influenza and covid and why preparedness for one does not equate to preparedness for both. If I have time later I may dig out a few references.

BOTH are spread by similar methods, mainly in the air, and in similar environments, eg cruise ships, military ships, large indoor gatherings. BOTH require PPE. Almost all of the non-medical specific requirements are the SAME.
Link

Influenza (Flu) and COVID-19 are both contagious respiratory illnesses, but they are caused by different viruses. COVID-19 is caused by infection with a new coronavirus (called SARS-CoV-2), and flu is caused by infection with influenza viruses.

Differences:
While COVID-19 and flu viruses are thought to spread in similar ways, COVID-19 is more contagious among certain populations and age groups than flu. Also, COVID-19 has been observed to have more superspreading events than flu. This means the virus that causes COVID-19 can quickly and easily spread to a lot of people and result in continuous spreading among people as time progresses.

WHO

How are COVID-19 and influenza viruses similar?

Firstly, COVID-19 and influenza viruses have a similar disease presentation. That is, they both cause respiratory disease, which presents as a wide range of illness from asymptomatic or mild through to severe disease and death.

Secondly, both viruses are transmitted by contact, droplets and fomites. As a result, the same public health measures, such as hand hygiene and good respiratory etiquette (coughing into your elbow or into a tissue and immediately disposing of the tissue), are important actions all can take to prevent infection.

A difference.

Children are important drivers of influenza virus transmission in the community. For COVID-19 virus, initial data indicates that children are less affected than adults and that clinical attack rates in the 0-19 age group are low. Further preliminary data from household transmission studies in China suggest that children are infected from adults, rather than vice versa.

CDC and WHO not good enough as sources?

Spanish flu was also more severe in presentation than seasonal flu.
Link

Americans were offered similar advice about how to avoid getting infected. They were advised not to shake hands with others, to stay indoors, to avoid touching library books and to wear masks. Schools and theaters closed, and the New York City Department of Health strictly enforced a Sanitary Code amendment that made spitting in the streets illegal, according to a review published in the journal Public Health Reports.

Sound familiar?
Another familiar situation.

In 2014, a new theory about the origins of the virus suggested that it first emerged in China, National Geographic reported. Previously undiscovered records linked the flu to the transportation of Chinese laborers, the Chinese Labour Corps, across Canada in 1917 and 1918.

The independent report on the preparedness of various countries was for pandemics in general, not just influenza.
If you're saying there are important differences between Covid and flu that couldn't be prepared for, then you're also saying no country in the world could've been prepared, and I doubt you're saying that.