Although they are both bad, H1N1 hit younger people harder (much harder) than COVID-19 because those age 65 and over likely had some level of influenza immunity present in their systems. A high percentage of younger people who contract COVID-19 have mild symptoms and recover, while H1N1 made this same group much sicker. Swine flu was controlled much faster before it could do more devastation because a flu vaccine was out just five months after the first cases of H1N1 were detected. To be real, COVID-19 is especially bad mortality-wise on the elderly populations of the world, so if you compare the two pandemics on mortality only then COVID-19 is far worse. But, based on who got infected and how sick they became the 2009 Swine flu was still worse overall.

But, the point I was trying to make earlier is that some level of discretion is needed worldwide before events in 2021 are randomly cancelled. 2021 should hopefully be the year where we come out of this pandemic, and not stay hunkered-down in fear once enough people have been vaccinated.