- The viral illness is extremely contagious, and spreads from person to person easily through close contact.
- The most severe coronavirus cases (20%) often include difficulty breathing , and may require hospitalization, where patients may be hooked up to ventilators, which help blow more oxygen into a person's lungs.
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How the coronavirus death toll compares to other pandemics, including SARS, HIV, and the Black Death
The new coronavirus , and the illness it causes, COVID-19, have killed more than 44,000 people around the world so far.
nurse coronavirus protective equipment hospital
The novel coronavirus has already killed more than 3,000 people in China, 9,000 in Spain, 12,000 in Italy, and it isn't done yet.
In the US, the White House's Coronavirus Task Force has recently estimated that in a best case scenario, the virus may kill upwards of 200,000 people nationwide.
"We're very worried about every city in the United States, and the potential for this virus to get out of control," US coronavirus response coordinator Deborah Birx told NBC News on Monday morning . "If we do things together well, almost perfectly, we could get in the range of 100,000, 200,000 fatalities."
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As of April 1, here's how the body count of COVID-19 thus far compares to other pandemics that have spread far and wide, with devastating consequences:
covid 19 death toll compared to other pandemics graphic
Shayanne Gal/Business Insider
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See Also:
- I followed New York City 'deathcare' workers as they collected the bodies of people killed by the coronavirus, and I saw a growing, chaotic, and risky battle
- More than 70% of Americans hospitalized with COVID-19 had at least 1 underlying health condition, the CDC says here's the breakdown
- Coronavirus live updates: More than 874,000 people have been infected, nearly 43,300 are dead, and a fifth of all cases are in the US
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