[March 9, 2020] Lessons from the past are frequently overlooked or consciously discarded for a variety of valid-sounding reasons. The Spanish Flu of 1918, however, can give us some clues on how to survive the Coronavirus (COVID-19).
While I am about to layout those very lessons, one of them stands out above all the others. The first lesson is that we should be as open and transparent as possible. Getting the word out on the best ways to protect ourselves individually, the immediate symptoms, and specific case studies are paramount.
I’ll begin with a few comments on the Spanish Flu itself. I recommend a review of this flu by reading well-researched books and documents.1 This influenza pandemic was the most severe in human history. It is estimated that 50 million worldwide died, about 5 percent of the population. Mortality in healthy people was a unique feature of this pandemic. The Flu killed more military personnel during the war than all the battles that took place.
A second important lesson from the Spanish Flu of 1918 is that it will be impossible to contain, but proper actions can slow the spread. Unpopular, difficult decisions are for public safety. Authoritarian governments, as we have in China, can enact rigid quarantines and do so quickly while handing out severe punishments for violating government directives. Slowing the spread of the virus allows for more medical developments to reduce the infection and death rates.
The third lesson is to have a well-established, professional health care system with independent senior medical personnel that can recommend policies within the political system. Such a preventive health care system can restrain rumor, false information, and confusion. People that have confidence in the medical community helps by reducing the spread of incorrect information.
The fourth and last lesson for us as the Coronavirus spreads is to get the word out on how individuals can best protect themselves and their families. Does this mean wearing a mask? Or does it mean washing our hands often? Such details can help significantly at reducing the spread of the virus around our communities.
In 1918, the first wave of the Spanish Flu was not so bad, but the second wave was the deadliest. While the Coronavirus is fundamentally different from the influenza virus, there is still the possibility the virus could mutate into something more deadly or just fade away. We should prepare medically, politically, and socially to better ward off the Coronavirus.
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- 1918 Pandemic (H1N1 virus) – https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resources/1918-pandemic-h1n1.html
More to learn about this coronavirus infecting people across the globe. The bottom line is that no one really knows the end point. But it is prudent to take precautions to slow the spread until time is gained for a cure or at least a way to reduce its deadly end.
If only! If only we all paid a little closer attention and don’t think we’re somehow immune.
I’ve been hearing a lot about the parallels except for the death rate. Lots of bad things are about to happen world wide and I’m a bit worried about it. But more worried about the panic being spread by the news media and the downplaying of it by national govts like China and, yes, the USA.
Correct, Socialist and Communist governments always go the authoritarian route. Why? Simple, these systems run counter to human nature.
Gil you certainly hit that argument out of the park. Socialists in the US haven’t figured out that important idea and will never come to grips with it. ?
Read, think, and learn. Telling the truth is what prevents us from being corrupt. The basis of communism and socialism is the lie that we are all equal and that the human mind is shaped by forces beyond our understanding. Thus these types of authoritarian govts are perfect to impose their views on us at the barrel of a gun.
“It’s the most daunting virus that we’ve contended with in half a century or more,” Michael Mina, an epidemiologist at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said at a panel discussion Friday at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.
https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/07/harvard-forum-experts-warn-most-daunting-virus-in-50-years/
This virus, on the one hand, there’s a saving grace that it doesn’t seem to be impacting our young, and that is amazing,” Mina said. “But the mortality rate among people who are getting infected above 80 years old is 15-plus%.
The response in China, where the virus first emerged and cases quickly exploded, included the unprecedented steps of essentially quarantining tens of millions of people in and around Wuhan, the city at the center of the outbreak. There were concerns about people with other diseases being able to get the care they needed and the trampling of individual liberty. But from a raw epidemiological perspective, global health authorities have argued that such drastic measures gave the world more time to prepare. The interventions in China, they say, delayed the wave of cases in other places around the world.
But Chinese govt officials began by hiding the fact that it started in China and kept it from their people; arresting many who wanted to get the word out.
In doing a little research on the Spanish influenza, it’s noted that then leaders around the globe had enacted wartime censorship, thus creating an environment that allowed the spread of the disease. The primary goals for today’s leaders is to let the scientists handle the messaging and quit putting forth false impressions felt from one’s gut instincts.
You got that right, Terri. Too much false info out there. Sorting it out is not going to be easy.
Terri, correct, the censorship did create a condition that allowed the virus to spread. One incident was when a rally for WWI bond sales went on despite the fact that people would contract the Spanish flu. Leaders failed, people died.
Panic … well maybe not. I think most of us in America and Europe are on the right track. Wash you hands, don’t touch your face, don’t gather around crowds, etc. Common sensical behavior always. Thanks all. But don’t stay in your basement, as that doesn’t work either.
Yeah and because I don’t trust the news media, it’s hard to tell the diff in hype and reality. So, I’m just using ordinary caution. I believe, however, that this virus, like the regular flu, will go wild around the globe and in a year we’ll not be worrying about it any more.
“At Harvard forum, three who know warn of ‘most daunting virus’ in half a century”
https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/07/harvard-forum-experts-warn-most-daunting-virus-in-50-years/
“Tell the truth” gheeeee! Can’t we get more straight forward than that? But politicians want to slant the info. PANIC ha ha ha ha.
Len, I just wonder how much of this coronavirus is hyped up. Maybe the news media just don’t have much else to talk about that is really news so they have jumped on this as a way to up their ratings. The harm done, if true, is enormous. They will fall again on the credibility scale if they once again show they cannot be trusted to give the facts instead of injecting their opinion.
Jerome, working in a hospital, I can tell you that a lot of what you hear is, indeed, hype.
Hype versus caution. That is where we are an no one wants to be on the lack of caution side.
There are two basic ways to tackle the problem.
1. Extreme forms of quarantine.
2. Quick cure.
Both of these have their positives and negatives. Both should be used to a degree. Communist China uses mostly the first one while the US and other western nations use the second. Which is better? Only time will tell.
Spot-on comment Eric. Only authoritarian govts can do the former. We in the West don’t have that way in our rucksack. But there must be a smart combo of these to make it really work.
Nice set of four important lessons. Now, …… if only people would listen. Going thru the Internet I found several more but the most important is “do not lie” about the info on any virus.
I agree and that is why I keep coming back to General Satterfield’s blog. I’m not one of the original readers but I do learn from them. Here is where I get my daily dose of leadership.
Yes, well said Doug. Oh, Valkerie, I’m one of the original and regular fans of this leadership website.
JT and it’s a pleasure to have you as a longtime reader.
Thanks JT