Is covid-19 the biggest world event since WW2?
* Mao Zedong killed 40 to 80 million people during his rule after WW2, but "only" in China.
* 2-5 million died in the Second Congo Civil War between 1998-2003, but to a first approximation only Congo and its immediate neighbors even noticed.
* The US response to 9/11 killed around 500,000 people directly (war violence) and a lot more indirectly (health, economy, etc).
The direct death toll of COVID-19 is unlikely to get anywhere close to this, but the indirect economic impact will clearly be global and massive.
IMHO, we're already well into reorganization to a war economy in many countries, USA included. Meaning, truly exceptional circumstances where the status quo is suspended and different, urgent priorities are taken.
Also, at this rate I wouldn't be surprised if Trump tries to postpone the elections in November.
Even if the death toll is going to me more limited than other big events (we don't know that, though), it is absolutely massive and truly global.
As for the potential death toll, if half the world gets it and 2% of them die, we're looking at a 80 million death count.
Just multiply half of the world population by mortality rate of 1%.
40 to 80 million is absurdly large and just as fictitious as the numbers pushed in the "black book of communism".
This is a good article which dissects those numbers: https://monthlyreview.org/commentary/did-mao-really-kill-mil...
1) Post-WW2, most of the Eastern Hemisphere experienced famine and underemployment for a decade. (Britain had food ration coupons for 9 years afterwards.)
2) The Cold War was pretty scary and greatly impoverished the Eastern Bloc, Cuba, N. Vietnam and N. Korea. China had the Great Famine from 1959 - 1961, killing "tens of millions."
4) Polio was a scourge until vaccines were developed: 2 to 5 percent of children and up to 15 to 30 percent of adults die
5) USA has a serious crack and meth epidemic, and Russia lost a lot of men to vodka poisoning.
We'll see about Covid-19, but the next famine will dwarf it by 10x or 20x in total fatalities.
Famine due to global warfare is not localized, and each one listed had tens of millions of fatalities.
The Great Famine fails the "world" part.
Your first item is sort of arguable, but I'd say it's half not an event, and half not independent enough of WW2 to count.
This is probably the worst event since WW2, IMHO, yes. It is going to be as bad as the 1918 flu. Its effects will be more far-reaching. Unlike WW2, this will affect every single corner of the globe.
This will change society forever.
Economic deaths from both are huge.
But everyone seems to have forgotten HIV, which says a bit.