Carnival celebrators dressed in the plague masks meant to protect against the bubonic plague ride the subway in Italy on February 25, as the novel coronavirus swept the country. | Giacomo Cosua/NurPhoto via Getty Images

One year ago, China announced the first Covid-19 death. Now, the disease is among the 10 deadliest pandemics in history.

Exactly one year ago, on January 11, the first death from a confirmed case of Covid-19 was reported in China.

Today, the US is inching toward 400,000 confirmed deaths, the world toward 2 million. With alarming milestone after alarming milestone, the temptation grows to compare Covid-19 to the other horrific pandemics of history. It is not as bad, of course, as the 1918 flu pandemic, or as the notorious Black Death. But it has long surpassed the death toll of SARS (2002-2004), MERS (2012, 2015, and