When have they ever before referred to an epidemic as a “pandemic” when it was not massively deadly to most people. The Wuhan Virus, in spite of the breadth of its infection, is NOT massively deadly to most people. It is for exactly that reason that the “Spanish Flu” and its partner viruses in what is called the “seasonal flu” is NOT called a “pandemic” in spite of its global spread to millions in all the world.
A lot.
2009 H1N1 Pandemic
1968 Pandemic (H3N2 virus)
1957-1958 Pandemic (H2N2 virus)
1918 Pandemic (”Spanish Flu” H1N1 virus)
https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resources/basics/past-pandemics.html
1929–1930 psittacosis pandemic (which led to the formation of the NIH in the US)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1929%E2%80%931930_Psittacosis_Pandemic
1981 - present HIV/AIDS Pandemic
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epidemiology_of_HIV/AIDS
None of these were more deadly than COVID-19, except POSSIBLY the 1918 Spanish Flu, and even that’s not by a whole lot. Spanish Flu’s fatality rate was probably no worse than about 2x that of COVID-19. Nowhere near something like smallpox, where as much as 30% of victims could die.
Then if they were true to their word they would quit calling it “Seasonal Flu” and call it the “Flu Pandemic” EVERY year. But they don’t.