“Well, with a U.S. population of 300,000,000 that comes to 6,000,000 dead. And I think the mortality rate is more like 7%, if the numbers of over a thousand infected with 68 deaths, is correct. It’s definitely something to watch.”
Let’s be clear. 6 million would die ONLY IF all 300,000,000 Contracted the virus. The likelihood of that happening is extremely remote. Not disagreeing with the mortality rate, just keeping some perspective on your dire numbers you posted.
Before we get overly freaked out, it’s inappropriate to multiply the entire population by the mortality rate. Many, usually most, people don’t actually get the disease, and the mortality rate is calculated from those who contract it.
The US population in 1918, during the Spanish Flu, was about 110M. About 28% contracted this disease, or about 30M. Of these, about 500,000 to 700,000 died, or about 2 to 3%.
The rate of contraction and the mortality rate varied in different parts of the world.
But even this disease, probably the most virulent in human history, killed only about .5% of the US population. Today that would be about 1.5M, a horrible tragedy but not nation-destroying levels. We are also much better equipped to fight a similar disease than in 1918. Not adequately, but better.