Earlier this week, the United States passed a milestone in its fight against coronavirus. With more than 58,000 dead, the coronavirus disease — COVID-19 — has claimed more American lives than the Vietnam War.

The war took 19 years to kill that many Americans. The virus did it in 14 weeks; the first U.S. case was reported Jan. 20, and the virus’s death toll surpassed Vietnam’s on Tuesday, April 28.

Some people continue to compare COVID-19 to the flu — and ironically, they still have a valid point. While the 2018-19 influenza season claimed an estimated 34,000 lives, the previous year killed an estimated 61,000. 2017-18  was the worst flu season this decade, according to CDC statistics. So, technically, the death toll of COVID-19 is similar to that of a very bad flu season.

But the flu season generally lasts from October to May — COVID-19 has killed almost as many people as a bad flu season in half the time. And it isn’t over.

One can’t help but wonder: If we’d been more serious about dealing with the annual flu season, which kills tens of thousands of people every year, perhaps we’d have been better prepared when COVID-19 showed up on our doorstep this year.

Because the 2017-18 flu season killed more Americans than the Vietnam War too.

And the 2018-19 season — the third-lightest of the decade — killed more Americans than the Korean War.

Just something to think about as we begin to move forward from this outbreak. Because, regardless of what happens with the coronavirus, the 2020-21 flu season starts five months from today.