COVID-19 cases

The Maine CDC reports that Westbrook through Dec. 27 had reported a total of 633 confirmed or probable cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began.

The number represents 3.2% of the city’s population of an estimated 19,778.

The New York Times reported as of Jan. 5 that 353,729 people in the United States have died of COVID-19, representing about 0.1% of the population of 328.2 million.

1918-19 pandemic data

The Westbrook Historical Society’s winter 2020 newsletter reports that the so-called “Spanish Flu” of 1918-1919 impacted an estimated 500 million people equaling a third of the world’s population. It claimed the lives of between 50 and 100 million.

The newsletter said 675,000 died in the United States. Those deaths represent 0.65% of the 1918 U.S. population of 103 million.

With no vaccine available, all that people could do to contain the spread of the disease was wash their hands, avoid public gatherings and quarantine the sick,” the newsletter said.