There are lies, damned lies, and statistics. — often attributed to Mark Twain who attributed it to Benjamin Disraeli, who never said it.
The U.S. has now exceeded 700,000 total Covid-19 deaths. The press is reporting this as the worst pandemic in U.S. history. That depends on how you define “worst”. If you take “the most people killed” as “worst”, then the claim is true. However, the Spanish Flu killed 0.7% of the U.S. population whereas the Covid pandemic has (so far) killed only 0.2% of the U.S. population. So in terms of percentage of the population killed, Spanish Flu is still holds the grim distinction of being “worst”. (Or, rather, “worse”; According to https://www.healthline.com/health/worst-disease-outbreaks-history, A cholera outbreak in three waves in 1832-1866 killed 5-10% of the U.S. population.)
I’m not giving you these statistics to depress you (although they are depressing). I just wish the press were less sensationalist in their reporting. Are they making statements like this to be deliberately provocative? Maybe, but I’m more inclined to think they suffer from the thing a lot of Americans suffer from: The inability to think critically.
(See also “Lies, Damned Lies, and the Market Share.)”