US deaths from the novel coronavirus topped 60,000 on Wednesday and the outbreak will soon be deadlier than any flu season since 1967, according to a Reuters tally.
America's worst flu season in recent years was in 2017-2018 when more than 61,000 people died, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The only deadlier flu seasons were in 1967 when about 100,000 Americans died, 1957 when 116,000 died and the Spanish flu of 1918 when 675,000 died, according to the CDC.
The United States has the world's highest coronavirus death toll, and a daily average of 2,000 people died in April of the highly contagious respiratory illness Covid-19, according to a Reuters tally.
The first US death was recorded two months ago on February 29th, but recent testing in California indicates the first death might actually have occurred on February 6th, with the virus circulating weeks earlier than previously thought.
On Tuesday, Covid-19 deaths in the US eclipsed in a few months the 58,220 Americans killed during 16 years of US military involvement during the Vietnam War. Cases have topped 1 million.
The actual number of cases is thought to be higher, with state public health officials cautioning that shortages of trained workers and materials have limited testing capacity.
In early March, the prospect that the coronavirus would kill more Americans than the typical flu was unthinkable to many politicians who played down the risk of the new virus.
Republican President Donald Trump tweeted on March 9th: "So last year 37,000 Americans died from the common Flu. It averages between 27,000 and 70,000 per year. Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on. At this moment there are 546 confirmed cases of CoronaVirus, with 22 deaths. Think about that!"
On March 11th, Democratic New York City mayor Bill de Blasio told New Yorkers during a radio interview to eat out at restaurants if they were not sick.
That same day, top US infectious diseases expert Dr Anthony Fauci warned Congress that the coronavirus was at least 10 times more lethal than the seasonal flu.
There is as yet no treatment or vaccine for coronavirus, while flu vaccines are widely available along with treatments. – Reuters