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The coronavirus pandemic has crippled the country and changed our everyday lives. Now, we know just how devastating the virus has become.
According to Johns Hopkins University data, 322,849 people have died from the virus.
That number makes 2020 the deadliest year in United States history since the Spanish flu and World War I.
From the New York Post:
It marks a jump of 15%, the largest single-year percentage leap since 1918, when tens of thousands of U.S. soldiers died in World War I and hundreds of thousands died of Spanish flu.
Drug overdoses have also been on the rise.
The coronavirus mainly comes from animals and a majority of those who were infected early either worked at or frequently visited the Huanan seafood wholesale market in Wuhan, according to The Guardian. The virus is similar to Severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) and Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome (Mers).
The Wuhan coronavirus is transmitted from person to person through “droplet transmission.” That means an infected person can pass the virus by sneezing or coughing on another person as well as by direct contact.
While a majority of the cases have been detected in the United States and China — with more than 18.3 million confirmed cases and 323,000 deaths in the United States — it has now reached many countries around the world. It has also been confirmed in Italy, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, and many other eastern countries.
