COVID-19 deaths would not have been even noticed 150 years ago
Many people with poor immune systems have died of infectious diseases
bacteria: Tuberculosis, Typhoid Fever, . . .
viruses: Smallpox, HIV, Hepatitius, Spanish Flu, winter flu, Asian Flu, Hong Kong Flu . . . .
both: pneumonia . . .

2.4 million deaths COVID-19 out of a population of 7.6 billion in the world
TB chart from Progress with TB or a Return to the Dark Ages?
By the way: TB appears to be both prevented and treated by Vitamin D
Tuberculosis category listing has items
Tuberculosis – perhaps all forms are associated with low vitamin D – Dec 2020
Tuberculosis treatment greatly helped by injection of 200,000 IU of vitamin D – RCT April 2016
Tuberculosis -100 percent cure rate with 10,000 IU of vitamin D daily – RCT 2006
Background
I just finished reading a detective thriller placed in in the UK (1859)
Prince Albert was saved from assignation
only to die of Typhoid Fever 2 years later.
There were perhaps 20 infectious disease deaths mentioned in the book
The Darwin Affair