Covid-19 is officially the most deadly outbreak in recent American history, surpassing the estimated U.S. fatalities from the 1918 influenza pandemic, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Spanish flu, also known as the Great Influenza epidemic or the 1918 influenza pandemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza epidemic caused by the H1N1 Influenza A virus. It is believed the virus swept the world in three to four waves, killing an estimated 17 to 50 million people worldwide.
It was one of the deadliest pandemics in human history. And the CDC says after the initial waves of the virus passed in the summer of 1919, the virus kept circulating seasonally for another 38 years. The current US population, a little more than 330 million, is more than three times larger than the population in 1918, estimated at 105 million.
With an estimated 675,000 deaths from the influenza pandemic in the US a century ago, and with the population just a third of what it is today, this tells us the flu cut a much bigger, more lethal swath through the country in 1918-1919.
Reported U.S. deaths due to Covid crossed 675,000 on Monday, and are rising at an average of more than 1,900 fatalities per day, Johns Hopkins data shows. The nation is currently experiencing yet another wave of new infections, fueled by the fast-spreading delta variant.
This means the 1918 flu killed about 1 in every 150 Americans, compared with 1 in 500 who have died from Covid so far.
The Guardian points out that while the influenza pandemic was a tragedy a century ago, the COVID-19 pandemic is also a tragedy – primarily because unlike a century ago, vaccines have been made widely available.
Medical and scientific knowledge has grown around the world, and we have eradicated polio in the U.S., as well as other diseases – by making vaccines available to the population. Yet, for some reason, there has been a reticence to using the new vaccines available to combat the coronavirus.
The spread of baseless fears and misinformation about the safety and efficacy of the vaccines means that 36 percent of people in the US aged 12 and over have yet to be fully vaccinated, according to data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The thing is – the true death toll may be much higher than the official total because, like the previous pandemic, it is estimated. Also similar to the 1918-19 flu, the coronavirus may never entirely disappear. Scientists hope it will become a mild seasonal bug as human immunity strengthens through vaccination and repeated infection.
To be sure, a direct side-by-side comparison of raw numbers for each pandemic doesn’t provide all of the contexts, considering the vast technological, medical, social, and cultural advances over the past century, said Dr. Howard Markel, a physician and medical historian at the University of Michigan, among others.
As of today, September 21, 2021, the United States has recorded 42,312,485 confirmed cases of COVID-19, and 676,861 deaths, according to John Hopkins University data.
