Editor's note: John Gong is a professor at the University of International Business and Economics and a research fellow at the Academy of China Open Economy Studies at UIBE. The article reflects the author's views and not necessarily those of CGTN.

Earlier this month the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention in the United States announced that since the first case broke out in Seattle in January 2020, the total death toll so far from COVID-19 in the U.S. has officially passed a million. President Joe Biden called it a "tragic milestone." Separately, 80 million Americans, approximately a quarter of the entire population, have been infected with the virus. CDC's death toll tally is based on the death certificate data, so it should be quite accurate.

One million people, for God's sake. Never has America suffered such a devastating blow in its entire history. To put things in perspective of this horrendous number, here are some mind-boggling comparisons that I have come up with. The purpose is to illustrate the gravity of the tragic nature of this monumental event.

The last deadly pandemic, the 1918 Spanish Flu, killed a total of 675,000 Americans by the end of 18-month stretch. Today COVID-19 has already killed about 50 percent more, and we are probably not done yet.

The bloody American Civil War, arguably the largest war in the U.S. history, resulted in an estimated death toll of about 620,000, of which about 362,000 were on the Union side and 258,000 on the Confederate side. Today, COVID-19 has already killed about 50 percent more, and we are probably not done yet.

American deaths from the World War I is numbered at 116,516. Today, COVID-19 has killed nearly 10 times more.

American deaths from the World War II is numbered at 418,500. Today, COVID-19 has killed more than twice that number. 

America’s next five big wars combined, the Korean War (36,516), the Vietnam War (58,209), the Gulf War (258), the Iraq War (4,431) and the forever war in Afghanistan (2,443), jointly killed 101,857. Today, COVID-19 has killed nearly 10 times more.

The U.S. army, the largest military branch of the U.S. armed forces, has about a million men and women, more than half of which are actually national guards and those on reserve. COVID-19 essentially wiped out the equivalent size of the entire U.S. army.

The 10th largest city in America, San Jose in California, has a population just a bit less than a million people. Imagine an entire city on the size and scale of San Jose is now gone. 

The federal workforce of civil employees has a size of 2.1 million people. The COVID-19 death in America is tantamount to wiping out and shutting down half of the federal government.

The list of these shocking comparisons can go on and on, but it is heart-breaking to see so many people die unnecessarily as a result of a mixed bag of reasons – some of which can be attributed to former President Donald Trump's lying and ineptitude; some of which can be attributed to America's uncompromising freedom-yearning culture; some of which can be attributed to America's religious tenacity; and some of which can be attributed to the right wing's conspiratorial preaching.

The U.S. arguably developed the best vaccines and the best treatment medicines, owns the best and largest number of medical and ICU facilities, and proclaims the world's best and best-paying force of doctors and nurses. And yet, it also claims the most dead people in the world due to COVID-19.

America is a nation of faith. Many people who have passed away during this pandemic certainly believed that they were on their way to a better world. But yet, it still does not negate the question about whether there is something inherently wrong in America.

A dead is one too many, as they used to say. A million is million too many.

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