1918 Flu Pandemic: Let’s Not Repeat History

With all the technology and medical capabilities we enjoy in the 21st Century, we are constantly repeating epic mistakes from our past. We are currently living the reality of one very good example of that fact. Sometimes, we have to do something different if we want a different outcome. Make sense?

Not too long ago, the 1918 Flu Pandemic decimated 1/3 of the world’s population in one year. The CDC estimates more than 500 million people got infected and at least 50 million died. Of that total, nearly 680 thousand Americans died from the disease. Transmission was similar to that of COVID-19.

More than 100 years ago, the Spanish Flu was spread by human-to-human contact. When an infected person talked, coughed, or sneezed, their respiratory droplets went into the air and were inhaled by anyone nearby. That’s pretty easy to understand, right?

No one really knows the origin of the deadly flu, just that it spread like wildfire from troops in the military to civilians. Just like today, there was no vaccine available. Citizens were advised to social distance, stay away from large public gatherings, wash their hands, and wear face masks as non-pharmaceutical prevention methods. Even back then, they learned these preventive methods were extremely effective in stopping the spread.

What happened? Not everyone followed the CDC recommendations. People who didn’t comply with preventive measures simply continued to spread the disease. Sound familiar? My point is that we are repeating history because we haven’t learned our lesson. In this very moment, there are more than 9.6 million COVID-19 cases worldwide and 487,580 people have already died. I want to urge everyone to wear a mask, sanitize your hands, and stay away from all mass gatherings.

Please everybody, take this virus seriously. We can get past this, but we are going to have to work together to do it.

Stay well, everyone!