Coronavirus Has Killed More Americans Than Any Flu In Half A Century

TOPLINE

With the U.S. counting upwards of 61,000 confirmed coronavirus deaths on Wednesday evening, the coronavirus pandemic is more deadly than any flu the country has seen since 1967—but still falls far short of the devastating 1918 Spanish flu pandemic.

KEY FACTS

KEY BACKGROUND 

By CDC counts, only three flu seasons in recorded American history have been more deadly than coronavirus, according to Reuters. The only three flu seasons with more deaths were in 1967 that roughly 100,000 Americans died from, the 1957 season that killed 116,000 and the 1918 Spanish Flu that killed a staggering 675,000 Americans by the end of the pandemic. Worldwide, more than 3.2 million confirmed coronavirus cases and upwards of 228,000 deaths have been counted by Johns Hopkins University.

FURTHER READING

U.S. coronavirus outbreak soon to be deadlier than any flu since 1967 as deaths top 60,000 (Reuters)

U.S. Coronavirus Death Toll Is Far Higher Than Reported, C.D.C. Data Suggests (The New York Times
NYT
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