Virus infected 2020 looks like 1918 despite Science March

Washington—Despite the century’s advance in science, 2020 is very similar to 1918.

During the years between the two deadly pandemics, one was mistaken for the Spanish flu and the other was COVID-19. The world has learned about viruses, cured a variety of diseases, created effective vaccines, developed instant communication, and created sophisticated public health networks.

But again, it covers the face to the maximum. And yet, insidious but avoidable infections cannot be crushed before hundreds of thousands die.

As in 1918, people are once again listening for hollow guarantees, contrary to the fact that hospitals and morgues are full and bank accounts are empty. The ancient wisdom of quarantine has been restored. Bullshit: Rub raw onions into your chest, they said in 1918. What about your vein sanitizer now? Meditating on President Donald Trump, he joked instead of laughing at the weaknesses he tried to weaken.

There was no vaccine, cure, or cure for the pandemic of the flu in 1918, with the global outbreak of more than 50 million people killed. I don’t have any of the coronaviruses.

Modern science quickly identified today’s new coronaviruses, mapped their genetic code to develop diagnostic tests, and harnessed what no one knew in 1918. This has given them more opportunities to fight for harm to people, at least in countries where tests are rolled out quickly. , The United States did not.

However, there is little change in how to prevent getting sick and what to do when you get sick. From the past to the present, the fact that the US president did not take the threat seriously from the beginning.

All Trump has delivered the wrong stream of information ever since, except that the infection declared victory before it took root in his country. President Woodrow Wilson’s main failure was his silence.

According to historians, Wilson had contracted for himself and never publicly spoke of an illness that has killed Americans in grotesque mass, if not the same since then. Wilson insisted that he liked “boney dogs” in an American parallel battle in World War I, said John M. Barry, author of the “Great Flu”.

Ground Zero, a suspected Spanish cold, extends from Kansas to China. But even in 1918, it was clear to US authorities that it did not begin in Spain.

The pandemic took on the Spanish name, while its free press ambitiously reported the devastation of the early waves of 1918, while government officials and war state conspirator correspondents-among them the United States-were Because he played it in times of censorship, and denial. .

Similar to COVID-19, the 1918 pandemic was derived from a respiratory virus that jumped from animal to human, was similarly transmitted, and had similar pathologies, Barry said in an email. Social distances, hand washing and masks were and were still the primary control measures.

In 1918, Dr. John Dill Robertson, Health Commissioner of Chicago, said: “If that happens, stay at home, rest in bed, drink a hot drink, and be quiet until you experience symptoms.” And then the greatest risk is pneumonia or some kindred illness after the flu is gone. Please continue your attention then. “

The way it was done that day also required a catchy rhyme to circulate: “Cover each cough, sneeze, or the disease will spread.”

But there were also significant differences between the 1918 and 2020 viruses. The Spanish flu is paradoxically the first generation of the armed forces, as healthy people aged 20 to 40 years, especially the active immune system.

When such people became infected, their antibodies went after a virus like a soldier spilled from a trench in a European slaughterhouse.

“The immune system was throwing all the weapons it had with the virus,” Barry said. “The battlefield was the lungs. The lungs were destroyed in the battle.”

Young soldiers and sailors gathered in an American military camp, sailing to Europe with mankind in a boat packed with gunwales, fighting side by side in trenches, and returning to win the enthusiastic crowd. The number of them and the people they were infected with were enormous. The Spanish flu could have been called as easily as the US Army or US Navy flu. Or the German or British flu.

Among those who died in the pandemic was Friedrich Trump, Donald Trump’s paternal grandfather. Among those who contracted it and recovered it were the British and German wartime leaders, the United States, the King of England and Spain, and the future U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt, who was Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy. .

However, tolls were heavy on the average and poor, crowded with row houses, trams and sweaty factories.

In 1918, hearing the words of an American surgeon officer, Rupert Bleu, all could not live. “Keep as close as possible to crowds and stuffy places …. The value of fresh air from open windows cannot be overemphasized …. to breathe as much pure air as possible. Please make every effort. “

An estimated 675,000 Americans died in a pandemic believed to have infected a third of the world’s population.

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Bad science

In 1918, a surgeon general pointed out in a flyer, “If you have only mild attacks of illness, you can have very serious attacks on others.” The warning also applies to coronaviruses. Many people with COVID-19 can be infected without apparent symptoms. Without accurate counting of infections, it is often impossible to identify new virus killings. The 1918 flu mortality rate is estimated to be 2.5%.

The Blue Bulletin also warned people to avoid Charatan and only get medicine from a doctor.

But doctors didn’t always know what they were doing. Medical journals of the time describe a surge in abnormal treatments and are in a league of amateur theories about Trump’s disinfectants, light explosions, and unapproved drugs with both potential benefits and risks. There are also things.

A doctor in the 1918s recommended sniffing powder of boric acid and sodium bicarbonate (sodium bicarbonate) to flush the nostrils. Laura Spinney said she wrote the 2017 book Pale Ryder: The Spanish Cold of 1918 and its Methods, which uses iodine-derived drugs to help circulate toxic garden plants called quinine, strychnine, and digitalis. Some have prescribed it. It changed the world. “

A popular theory is to warm your feet to prevent infections, swallow brown sugar and scrape onions. The “clean heart” was one of what was considered preventative, but it is not clear whether it means an organ or a heart of love.

“Tony Forsy did not exist at the time,” Barry said in an interview with the Library of Congress in April.

He is particularly immune to the positive spins and falsehoods of Trump, a federal immunologist who is considered a true narrator at the White House briefing. Moreover, we know more than people knew in 1918.

Still, we still hear a lot of dark age nonsense.

Conspiracy theorists blame COVID-19 for the development of 5G networks, saying radio waves were the cause of the 1918 flu. After the lie spread, arsonists have recently set fire on over a dozen British cell towers.

Over the months of this pandemic, Associated Press has exposed a series of fake remedies that have spread to Facebook, Twitter and others. No, blowing hot air from your hair dryer to your nose does not protect you. It does not drink tonic water, eat highly alkaline foods, stuff noses with antibiotic ointments, or lower vodka or household elixirs.

No, you may not have COVID-19 if you cannot hold your breath for a long time. Or, it means that the vaccine from the lab only works with the disease created by the lab.

Social distance does not come with social media distance. For more than a century of science, we have returned to the past, not the future.

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Lessons from 1918 (and 1919)

In September 1918, the second and deadliest wave of Spanish influenza struck the United States, causing Philadelphia’s Director of Public Health to ignore its advisers and advance a large-scale War Bond Parade downtown. The H1N1 virus ran through a mass called the deadliest parade in the world. As the authorities argued that there was nothing to be wary of, people were seeing their neighbors sick and dead as a result of the amazing speed and massive graves dug.

“It’s just flu” was thinly dressed as an official mantra.

In late November, a siren screamed in San Francisco, sounding clear after six weeks of blockade and telling people that he could remove his mask. San Francisco, like many cities in the West, barely escaped the first wave, used masks in preparation for the second round, and imprisoned those who did not comply.

Of course, they also rhyme for that. “Observe the law and wear gauze. Protect your chin from the purifying feet.”

The precautions paid off with a lower mortality rate than cities suffering elsewhere. But the city relaxed too quickly.

In December, there were thousands of new cases. The waves were rushing into the New Year. The death toll in San Francisco has exceeded 1,000. This was the last violence of the Spanish flu and it was not fatal.

The brutal lessons of 1918 and 1919? Barry, who took part in the Bush administration’s drive 15 years ago to prepare for a pandemic for all levels of government, responds early, relaxes carefully, and tells the truth to people.

Instead, he saw the denial, leaving a confused federal response and leadership gap as Washington and the state competed for the same medical necessities and are now properly moving toward resumption.

“Now we have a plan, the plan is a war game, spending billions of dollars to prepare what’s going on, and federal agencies seem to handle all this. Tasked with and we are …

I don’t even have a jingle.

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Correspondence correspondents, Colleen Long and Laurent Niegaard in Washington, Amanda Sites in Chicago, and Karen Mahavir in New York contributed to the report.