Switzerland notes many similarities between Covid-19 and the Spanish flu

According to Swiss and Canadian researchers, the blockade rule is being enforced too late and is being lifted too soon or simply ignored. The pattern of how authorities and the public dealt with the Spanish flu 100 years ago is very similar to the coronavirus pandemic.

This content was published on February 9th, 2021-10:28
February 9, 2021-10:28

According to historical sources, the Spanish flu killed an estimated 20 to 100 million people worldwide in 1918 and 1919, and 24,447 in Switzerland. A particularly long-lasting second wave claimed many casualties.

With 6.1 deaths per 1,000 inhabitants, the 1918 influenza pandemic had the greatest demographic impact in Switzerland in the 20th century.Swiss-Canada Research Team Written in the journal Annual report of internal medicineExternal link..

Kaspar Staub, a historian at the University of Zurich, told the Swiss news agency Keystone-SDA, “It is worth noting that during the 1918 and 2020 pandemics, there are greater similarities in government and authority actions than ever before. I will. “

“Of course, there are also important differences. Today it is a different virus, with different living conditions, a more networked professional world, and better medical knowledge,” he said.

For their study, researchers tracked the response to the Spanish flu, especially in the canton of Bern, where the virus is widespread.

At the beginning of the first wave of July 1918, Bern authorities responded promptly and centrally. They restricted rallies, closed theaters, cinemas and schools, and banned choir practice. The number of infections has decreased – then all restrictions have been lifted. But this happened too early. A much worse autumn wave rushed in.

Fear of economic impact

Fatally, at the beginning of the second wave, Canton delegated responsibility to individual municipalities to enact measures.

“But for fear of new restrictions and their economic implications, this decentralized reaction didn’t work,” Staub said.

Researchers found that in the management of Covid-19 outbreaks in Switzerland, there was a surprisingly similar pattern of second wave amplitude, long duration, and much higher associated hospitalization and mortality rates. I was able to see it. “

It wasn’t until the fall of 1918, a few weeks later, that the state government again issued stricter central measures and the pandemic had subsided somewhat.

But the second wave of flu kept a firm grasp of the population. In November 1918, the number of incidents remained high, but conflicts broke out between the government and workers, resulting in national strikes and mass rallies. Military rallies in the central region also facilitated communication.

As a result of the general strike, many opposed the restrictions on the assembly and were subsequently eased under political and public pressure.

“These events were associated with a significant recovery in the number of cases, and the second wave was even longer,” Staub said. Similar developments are currently feared due to mutations in the coronavirus.

Did you disappear?

The study shows that Switzerland may have learned from its history, said Peter Uni, a co-author and Barneys epidemiologist at the University of Toronto.

“From my outside, I understand that in a well-organized, highly developed and privileged country like Switzerland, 1 in 1,000 died of Covid-19 and 1 in 300 was hospitalized. It’s hard to do, “he said.

Researchers said, “Despite the early evidence of uncontrolled exponential growth, a hesitant approach to public health interventions contained the second wave of both the 1918 influenza and Covid-19 pandemics. Was associated with the lack of. “

But historical views also reveal something hopeful. In the spring of 1919, the Spanish flu reappeared in the relatively mild third wave and then disappeared. “The acute phase of the pandemic is gone at some point,” Staub said.