| Learning from the flu pandemic 1918 | |
| This is a component of the ad hoc covid19 data project connected to the FUFF platform (fuff.org) | |
| http://fuff.org/data/cr0.html | |
| There is a temporary
google sheet version of this document. You can add ressources that you find
valuable. Please note that the current version of this google sheet version might not have been reviewed yet. |
|
| html | http://fuff.org/data/cr_a_1918.html |
| google sheets | https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13L6uFDb2XAaRa_dwxqHr1DuUDpXlW4Mmd6tlzwSuyJM |
| 1 | The outbreak of the
"Spanish flu" (it was not spanish) in the US 1918 is maybe still an
underestimated teaching material. Not only that it was a similarly dangerous global pandemic. The lessons are particularly clear in relation to the entire ecosystem: not just the mechanics of the spread and the measures taken to combat it. But above all about the entire reaction of a Western society in all its facets: the various influences: economic interests and emergencies, public pressure, discussions, generational conflicts, exhaustion, experts as people, politics, hidden agendas, and finally, the resulting decisions and their consequences. |
| 2 | There are recent studies that outline the mechanics of the spread and the measures. Because the outbreak was handled differently in different US cities, plans for responding a similar threat basically should be in place for 100 years: |
| https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/rapid-response-was-crucial-containing-1918-flu-pandemic | |
| 3 | However, those plans would need not just to be about the mechanics of the outbreak and containment strategies. In our western societies it is not as easy as having a plan and just stick to it. You have innumerous stakeholders that influence the course of things and democracy brings up minds that are not just doing what they are told but want to decide themselves (while still being under the influence of the power of the emotional or primal brain). |
| 4 | So it is very
interesting to read some of that what is retrieved now all over the USA:
local newspapers research the history of the Spanish flu in their towns and
write essays on it, which are still insighful although they may probably be
distorted some way. Added to it, more global orientated websites are summarizing knowledge (although often filtered by the comparative motivation to todays situation) |
| 5 | Here is a comparison between what happened in Los Angeles and San Francisco: |
| https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-04-19/coronavirus-lessons-from-great-1918-spanish-flu-pandemic | |
| San Francisco and the "anti-mask league"… | |
| https://www.sfgate.com/coronavirus/article/1918-pandemic-masks-bay-area-california-15185425.php | |
| 6 | Here is a story how the people were 'successfully' lied to in Charlotte: |
| https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article241812591.html | |
| 7 | A detailed story of Denver, where like in other cities successful measures were not upheld and a second wave hit the town: |
| https://www.influenzaarchive.org/cities/city-denver.html | |
| *The website was created by the University of Michigan Center for the History of Medicine and holds stories on 50 US cities. However I wanted the sources to be with at least a little variation in backgrounds and mindsets, so I did not just link here. | |
| 8 | Two articles on different aspects of hard hit Pittsburgh, a tough steel workers city in western Pennsylvania: |
| https://pittsburghquarterly.com/articles/when-the-spanish-flu-swept-in-pittsburgh-failed-the-test/ | |
| https://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/brian-oneill/2020/03/19/Pittsburgh-1918-flu-epidemic-Spanish-flu-COVID-19-coronavirus/stories/202003190021 | |
| 9 | The famous Philadelphia parade… ("rumors circulated among the frightened populace that the Germans had unleashed the flu on U.S. soil via spies who'd arrived on U-boats") |
| https://theweek.com/articles/909181/parade-that-killed-thousands | |
| 10 | Chicago |
| https://news.wttw.com/2020/04/16/ask-geoffrey-how-did-chicago-deal-1918-spanish-flu | |
| 11 | Oaklahoma City |
| https://oklahoman.com/article/5659426/how-oklahoma-city-reacted-to-the-1918-spanish-flu-pandemic | |
| 12 | A comparison of the different cities' infection curves: |
| https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/2020/03/how-cities-flattened-curve-1918-spanish-flu-pandemic-coronavirus/ | |
| 13 | Studies from 2007 on the mechanics of spread and measures (non pharmaceutical interventions) |
| https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/208354?appId=scweb | |
| https://www.pnas.org/content/104/18/7582 | |