There have been various instances where COVID-19 has resembled the Spanish flu. The number of deaths caused by the latter was around 50 million to 100 million. This means that it took the lives of 3 to 6 percent of the human population altogether.
The number of deaths caused by the COVID-19 in the United States has now surpassed the number of deaths caused by the Spanish flu in the US. Spanish flu was considered the deadliest pandemic for the US but now, according to the data given by Johns Hopkins University, COVID-19 has taken that title.
After the advent of the delta variant in the States, the death toll on the region has increased by an exponential rate. For the US, the death toll for the Spanish flu was around 675,000. On Tuesday, September 21, it was announced that that the death toll caused by the ongoing pandemic surpassed the former death toll record. The number stands at 680,000 as of today.
CNBC reports that in 1918 the population in the US was around 103 million and now it is around 330 million. So, the comparison seems a little unfair as the flu killed about 1 in every 150 Americans, compared with 1 in 500 who have died from COVID-19 so far.
However, now, there is more technological and medical advancement than before. Researchers and scientists are working hard to eradicate the pandemic. The new vaccines have been distributed as well. Out of which, three were made in the US. Doctors can study viruses in detail and have access to antibiotics, intensive care units, ventilators, or IV fluids now, unlike before.
Talking to The Guardian, Dr. Jeremy Brown, director of emergency care research at the National Institutes of Health, said “They [pandemics] can do terrible things while they’re raging”, and added that “COVID-19 could have been far less lethal in the U.S. if more people had gotten vaccinated faster, and we still have an opportunity to turn it around”.
Currently, the daily death toll is more than 1,900 on average in the U.S., according to the Johns Hopkins data. And only 54 percent of Americans are fully vaccinated with an additional 9 percent partly vaccinated, so far. The only way is to keep fighting the pandemic and making progress every day.