What is clear is that the sheer numbers, given the modern-day tools that combat such illnesses, are a heavy burden. COVID-related U.S. deaths as of Sunday night are at 673,763, according to Johns Hopkins University data.

That’s just over 1,200 fewer than died in the 1918 Spanish Flu, which took an estimated 675,000 lives in the U.S. Before this, that flu pandemic was the most lethal since the United States was formed. With an 1,800-per-day death average, the number who’ve died of COVID-19 could surpass the previous scourge by Monday.

There are differences between the two scenarios. In 1918, the U.S. population was just over 100 million, whereas it’s 330 million today, as The Washington Post points out. That makes our death rate one in 500 Americans as opposed to the 1918 toll of one in 150.