The current national death rate among those infected with coronavirus is 1.3%. The comparable rate of death for seasonal flu is 0.1%. The study estimates that if the same number of people are infected with COVID-19 by the end of the year as are infected with flu, roughly 33.5 million people in 20018-19, almost 500,000 people will die as a result of coronavirus infection. However, COVID-19 is more infectious than the seasonal flu. Current conservative estimates suggest 20% of the US population will be infected by the end of 2020, leading to a possible 1.2 million deaths.
