US age-adjusted** death rate from 1900 through 2020.
The 1916-18 pandemic is very visible.
The 1957 pandemic: US deaths adjusted for population growth would have been roughly 200,000.
The 1968 pandemic: US deaths adjusted for population growth equates to roughly 165,000.
No economic shutdown, no school closures, life went on.
[** Age adjustment is done to compensate for changing demographics. An older population (think of Baby Boomers moving through the age curve) will naturally have more deaths than a prior year in which the population was younger. This masks true change in underlying risk.]