What's the Difference Between the 1918 and 2020 Pandemics?

During the 1918 H1N1 influenza pandemic, there were about 50 million influenza-related fatalities worldwide, including 675,000 in the USA, reported a study published in JAMA on August 13, 2020. In this study, excess flu deaths in New York City (NYC) were compared with fatalities during the initial period of the COVID-19 disease outbreak in 2020.

This cohort study found that the absolute increase in deaths over baseline (excess mortality) observed during the peak of the 1918 influenza pandemic was higher than. but comparable to, that observed during the first 2-months of the COVID-19 outbreak in NYC.

One difference between 1918 and 2020 is a majority of NYC's coronavirus related fatalities occurred in nursing homes. More than 6,610 fatalities, which represents about 20% of all NYC fatalities, have been confirmed by the NYTimes, as of August 13, 2020.

Nationwide, at least 41% of all COVID-19 related fatalities occurred at nursing homes and other long-term care facilities during 2020.