[Goose]

My gut feeling is that this disease will far surpass Hurricane Katrina in US deaths.  It may well pass the death toll of the Galveston Hurricane of 1900.  God willing, I hope it won't approach the death toll in the US or the world of the 1918 flu epidemic.

FWIW, "The CDC estimates that as many as 56,000 people die from the flu or flu-like illness each year." (https://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/qa/ho...-prevented). The Galveston Hurricane of 1900 killed 12,000, so I am pretty sure Covid-19 will surpass that, although maybe not this year. It seems probable that at best this virus will spread throughout the general population over time. It is doubtful that humanity can check this propagation. However, if it can be slowed down sufficiently medical facilities will not be saturated and soon this disease will become just one of many similar illnesses that already permeate the population. It sure would have been better if the spread could have been contained and the disease eradicated at the start, but that was probably never possible. By the time it was recognized as something new, too many people had carried it too far into the general world population to contain it fully.

[Goose]

My gut feeling is that this disease will far surpass Hurricane Katrina in US deaths.  It may well pass the death toll of the Galveston Hurricane of 1900.  God willing, I hope it won't approach the death toll in the US or the world of the 1918 flu epidemic.

FWIW, "The CDC estimates that as many as 56,000 people die from the flu or flu-like illness each year." (https://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/qa/ho...-prevented). The Galveston Hurricane of 1900 killed 12,000, so I am pretty sure Covid-19 will surpass that, although maybe not this year. It seems probable that at best this virus will spread throughout the general population over time. It is doubtful that humanity can check this propagation. However, if it can be slowed down sufficiently medical facilities will not be saturated and soon this disease will become just one of many similar illnesses that already permeate the population. It sure would have been better if the spread could have been contained and the disease eradicated at the start, but that was probably never possible. By the time it was recognized as something new, too many people had carried it too far into the general world population to contain it fully.