I mean you no offence but a pandemic is only decleared when A new virus pops up that doesn't behave as predicted and infects Multiple countries across different continents.
I think the key words are "doesn't behave as predicted" for example the Spanish flu that started in the US on a pig farm in the 1918, the Asian flu of 1957 - 58 (H2N2), The 1968 Hongkong flu (H3N2) and of course the most recent (H1N1) which is a new strain of the Spanish flu. As you can see most pandemics are caused by flu however each time a pandemic is decleared it has always been a new strain that the world has not seen before hence the initial term of "novel" coronavirus for covid 19. You argument of the flu death in us is flawed as this is based on a seasonal flu that occurs year round across the world where science and data can predict the behaviour. Additionally there is also readily available vaccines for the seasonal flu. Of course although the vaccines have proven to be effective there are still many deaths as a result of the seasonal flu.
