US COVID-19 Death Toll, Eclipses 1918 Spanish Flu Estimates.<br />Over a century ago, the world <br />was devastated by a pandemic widely considered , "the deadliest in human history.".<br />ABC News reports that an estimated 675,000 of those deaths occurred in the United States.<br />According to data collected by Johns Hopkins University, at least 675,446 Americans have been confirmed to have died since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.<br />Experts suggest there are key differences between <br />both pandemics that must be taken into account.<br />These are two different viruses,<br />two different times in history, <br />at two different times of medical <br />history, with what you have <br />available to combat or treat it, Howard Markel, Professor of the history of medicine <br />at the University of Michigan, ABC News.<br />The U.S. currently has a coronavirus case <br />fatality rate of 1.6%, compared to the 2.5% <br />fatality rate for influenza in 1918.<br />The U.S. currently has a coronavirus case <br />fatality rate of 1.6%, compared to the 2.5% <br />fatality rate for influenza in 1918.<br />The difference is that 1 in 500 <br />Americans have died now, and <br />about 1 in 152 died in 1918, although <br />our number keeps going up, Christopher McKnight Nichols, associate professor of history at Oregon State University, ABC News.<br />The difference is that 1 in 500 <br />Americans have died now, and <br />about 1 in 152 died in 1918, although <br />our number keeps going up, Christopher McKnight Nichols, associate professor of history at Oregon State University, ABC News.<br />We have effective vaccines now, and so <br />what strikes me in the comparison, if you <br />think about this milestone, this tragedy <br />of deaths, is that same number but we <br />have a really effective treatment, <br />the thing that they most wanted in 1918 <br />and '19, we've got. And for a lot of different <br />reasons, we botched the response, Christopher McKnight Nichols, associate professor of history at Oregon State University, ABC News.<br />We have effective vaccines now, and so <br />what strikes me in the comparison, if you <br />think about this milestone, this tragedy <br />of deaths, is that same number but we <br />have a really effective treatment, <br />the thing that they most wanted in 1918 <br />and '19, we've got. And for a lot of different <br />reasons, we botched the response, Christopher McKnight Nichols, associate professor of history at Oregon State University, ABC News.<br />A disproportionate number of those <br />who succumbed to the flu in 1918 <br />were in the 18- to 45-year-old age group.<br />The coronavirus pandemic has most <br />affected those over the age of 65, <br />who make up 78.7% of virus-related deaths
