The COVID-19 death toll just surpassed another historic American milestone

Until now, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cited the 1918 influenza pandemic as the most severe pandemic in modern history. About 50 million people worldwide lost their lives to that flu, including 675,000 people in the US.

Now, COVID-19 has overtaken the 1918 influenza as the most devastating pandemic for American lives. As of Tuesday, 676,347 people in the US have died from SARS-CoV-2 infection, according to John Hopkins University’s Coronavirus Resource Center—and the COVID-19 pandemic is still far from over. According to the CDC, the country is still averaging about 1,350 deaths per day, and the approaching second winter of the pandemic may bring another surge to the already huge death toll.

“A lot of the mistakes that we definitely fell into in 1918, we hoped we wouldn’t fall into in 2020,” Harvard epidemiologist Stephen Kissler told CNN. “We did.”

Now, COVID-19 has overtaken the 1918 influenza as the most devastating pandemic for American lives. As of Tuesday, 676,347 people in the US have died from SARS-CoV-2 infection, according to John Hopkins University’s Coronavirus Resource Center—and the COVID-19 pandemic is still far from over. According to the CDC, the country is still averaging about 1,350 deaths per day, and the approaching second winter of the pandemic may bring another surge to the already huge death toll.