What the 1918 Flu Pandemic Can Teach Us About the Coronavirus

The 1918 influenza, also known as the Spanish flu, devastated the world’s population, killing between 50 million and 100 million. By comparison, our current coronavirus pandemic has killed 979,212 people globally according to the World Health Organization dashboard updated Friday.

Experts say that while the coronavirus is not a flu virus, there are similarities between the two pandemics caused by pathogens, according to CNN. These similarities may teach us lessons on how to better deal with the current COVID-19 crisis.

Dr. Jeremy Brown, author of Influenza: “The Hundred-Year Hunt to Cure the Deadliest Disease in History,” said that as we are seeing in today’s protests, there was a backlash against wearing masks. “There was a group of libertarians who suggested that it was a breach of their rights and freedoms to be forced to wear masks.”

John M. Barry, author of “The Great Influenza: Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History,” told CNN that two key lessons were learned during the Spanish flu. First, he said, it is important to tell the truth, citing nations that were transparent with their citizens, like Germany and the Asian countries, did “an incredibly good job.” Secondly, that if you adhere to nonpharmaceutical interventions such as social distancing and wearing masks, “you can actually control the outbreak.” Barry added that the U.S. has not adhered to these precautions. “We’ve played with them,” he said.

Barry told the Washington Post, the 1918 virus never really went away but continued to mutate over generations. That is the natural order of influenza viruses, he said. Over time, people who contracted the virus in 1918 developed immunity, and by 1920, life pretty much returned to normal. The pandemic-level flu turned into the seasonal flu that we are still fighting today.

Brown said that an infectious disease eventually disappears when enough people have been exposed and died from it, or have “successfully run away from it until it goes away,” according to CNN, adding that a third aspect is when enough people are exposed to the virus and survive we achieve immunity.

“There’s no doubt we will see an end to COVID-19,” he said. “The big question is, what will it cost, and when will that be?”