As the number of coronavirus cases continues to climb in the U.S., you may be seeing posts comparing it to other outbreaks. People are trying to out this outbreak into context by comparing death rates and number of infections, however, it is still hard to compare this pandemic, known as COIVD-19, to others in history because it isn’t over yet.
Here’s how the coronavirus squares up to other pandemics. The 1918 flu pandemic was the most severe pandemic in recent history, according to the U.S.
Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The illness, dubbed the Spanish flu, rapidly spread worldwide from 1918-1919, infecting nearly a third of the global population.