The threat was masses of Soviet armored divisions that could invade Western Europe coming in via the Fulda Gap. Developed by the United States, the neutron bomb was not meant to vaporize the machinery of war, but only to kill the troops manning those tanks. It was very much -- a people weapon.
Then there is COVID-19, the virus that has upended our society and our lives. While not a weapon, the impact is the same. It is not directly impacting bridges or our electrical grid, it too is targeting people. It hasn't been called one, but it sure feels like a "weapon of mass destruction (WMD)."
Any explosion or bomb that killed over 170,000 people would be the largest single death toll ever. Even the atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, killed fewer people.
All of the above puts things in perspective when looking at the numbers. What we are living through is truly cataclysmic -- to people.
