Fauci Thinks COVID-19 Is Heading To Become ‘Spanish Flu’ Of 1918

The U.S. government's top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said on Tuesday, July 14, that COVID-19 pandemic has the potential to reach up to the level of the Spanish flu of 1918.

The historic Spanish flu killed millions of people between the years 1918 and 1920. It was one of the deadliest pandemics in the history of the world, caused by a strain of influenza that was unusually deadly.

The flu infected about 500 million people globally in two years, which was about one-third of the total global population at the time. Fauci believes that the COVID-19 pandemic may turn out to be of the same severity.

"If you look at the magnitude of the 1918 pandemic where anywhere from 50 to 75 to 100 million people globally died, that was the mother of all pandemics and truly historic,” said the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) said in a webinar.

“I hope we don't even approach that with [COVID-19] but it does have the makings of, the possibility of approaching that in seriousness."

COVIF-19 pandemic has so far affected more than 13.5 million people globally and has claimed the lives of over 575,000 people.

More than three million cases have been confirmed in the U.S. alone. The country has also reported 136,000 deaths linked to coronavirus infection.

Recently, several states, including Arizona, Florida and California have reported a dramatic surge in the number of coronavirus infections. This is believed to be a result of the premature reopening of the states.

Unlike the previous belief that the elderly are at a greater risk of getting infected by the novel coronavirus, the U.S. is reporting more cases in young adults.

Fauci said that young people may feel that they can go around and be a part of a crowd but what they need to know is that it is important to not get yourself infected and not spread it to anybody else too.

The U.S. has been consistently reporting more than 60,000 new coronavirus cases every day for the past few days. Florida has emerged as one of the biggest coronavirus hotspots in the country.