Local historian looks at COVID-19 compared to Spanish flu pandemic
With an untold number of trend-predicting models offering wildly-varying projections of the course the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic could take in the United States and globally, it is hard to say exactly when the outbreak will peter out; the numbers of infections, deaths and long-term complications will certainly rise, and our own actions will have a bearing as well.
Local historian Dr. Ken Bridges, a history instructor at South Arkansas Community College and columnist for the News-Times, corresponded with the NewsTimes about how the Spanish flu pandemic rose and fell from 1917 through 1919 for comparison.
The Spanish flu, also known as H1N1 (yes, the same name as the 2009 swine flu — more on that below), started spreading quickly around the world at the close of 1917, Bridges said. It’s still unclear to scientists and historians exactly how that strain of the virus originated; some believe it started in a Chinese market — similar to how the novel coronavirus originated in a wet market in Wuhan — then spread across the world as Chinese workers assisted in the European war effort.
“Conditions in some of these Chinese markets promote disease — the people are poor and just trying to make a living,” Bridges said in an email. “In these warm, openair markets where people and animals are so close together and wastes mix so easily, it is a perfect breeding ground for disease and for mutations to erupt.”
World War I was well underway by the time the Spanish flu pandemic began, and it would not come to a close until the end of 1918. Throughout the first year of that pandemic, the virus spread quickly and easily between soldiers.
“Soldiers lived very close to each other, spreading it easily; and field
hospitals were already overwhelmed and had few sanitary precautions,” Bridges said.
“Soldiers were crammed together, and it spread quickly.”
By 1918, the pandemic had reached the Americas. Cases dropped off for a period during the warm months that year before coming back “with a vengeance” that fall, Bridges said. About 10,000 New Zealenders died in November of 1918, 1% of the country’s population, leading them to refer to that month as “Black November.” Brazil’s president died from the virus.
“The Spanish flu had the worst death toll of any single pandemic in history,” Bridges said. “More than 50 million people died around the world in a matter of months.”
The war ended that same November, but the world was still on edge, Bridges said. In France, the government issued a public information campaign with slogans like “The Germans are beaten but not the flu.”
While some cities prepared for weeks, the Spanish flu still managed to catch the population off guard. Quarantines were issued, those with minor illnesses and injuries were turned away from hospitals, travelers were held in isolation, schools and churches were closed, police officers wore masks at all times and available cars were converted to ambulances and food delivery-services.
“Bodies littered the streets of some cities,” Bridges said. “Entire villages in Alaska were wiped out.”
Bridges said, like the coronavirus pandemic, the official response to the Spanish flu sent mixed messages, giving people a false sense of confidence about their likelihood of catching it. President Donald Trump has been criticised for nonchalance with regard to the pandemic, like the suggestion that the country should be back open for business by Easter. Additionally, mass communications then were not what they are today, so public information campaigns and news reports had less of a range.
“Information spread mostly by word-of-mouth,” Bridges said.
Camp Pike in Little Rock, now called Camp Robinson, was hit hard by the Spanish flu, Bridges said, with more people living there than did in Little Rock at that time. Aircraft hangars were converted to hospitals, along with community centers, schools and churches.
The Spanish flu vanished in 1919, Bridges said. The first vaccine for the virus didn’t become available until the 1930’s, and by then, new strains of the flu had emerged. The flu mutates often and there are hundreds of strains, such as the H1N1 “swine flu” that caused an epidemic in 2009. “That’s why we get different flu shots every year,” Bridges said.
Over 7,000 Arkansans were recorded to have died from the Spanish flu, almost twice the population of El Dorado during that time period. Schools were closed for the entirety of the fall, 1918 semester and starvation was a concern for those who contracted the disease and became too weak to get their own food.
“People were terrified in 1918 and 1918. They didn’t like talking about the epidemic,” Bridges said. “There was a terrible war in Europe that claimed millions of lives. Millions more died in the flu outbreak.”
However, Bridges maintained that the outlook is significantly brighter in 2020. Public information campaigns and news are much more far-reaching, and literacy has improved. Science has advanced lightyears and doctors are already working to develop treatments against the novel coronavirus. But, he said, our own actions will have a significant impact on the spread of COVID-19.
“People don’t like being told what to do; but when you’re an adult, you have adult responsibilities,” he said. “Lives are on the line.”
People have been advised by health authorities to stay home as much as possible and certainly if they exhibit symptoms. Testing for the novel coronavirus is still lagging nationally, so currently the best known way to slow the spread is to limit contact with others as much as possible.
People could be infected with COVID-19 without ever showing any symptoms; however, the disease is still communicable, and can be spread to those that will be affected by the serious symptoms, which can include severe respiratory distress.
Bridges noted that racially- or nationality-based fear, such as some politicians and public figures have been criticized for in their references to the novel coronavirus as the “Chinese” or “Wuhan” virus, is very unhelpful as we seek to understand and respond to the pandemic.
“People let fear overtake them [in 1918] and the damage was extensive. Don’t listen to conspiracies. People spreading them aren’t experts,” he said. “Scientists have known about the coronavirus for decades. This outbreak was not a plot by China. This strain is new, but the disease is not. It was just bad luck and bad sanitation that allowed it to erupt in these poorly-maintained open-air markets. “This was not some germ warfare exercise, unlike what some really unhinged people hiding on the Internet say,” he went on. “Germ warfare is not practiced for the simple reason that it doesn’t work. Germs don’t wear uniforms. Germs pass between armies as enemy soldiers or civilians come into contact with each other, infecting both sides. Once a disease is released, it can’t be controlled.” The Spanish flu pandemic was named as such because Spain was neutral in WWI, and therefore had a free press, while state censorship plagued other countries. Spain’s monarch, King Alfonso XIII, was infected with the flu and almost died, which was publicized in news reports and led to the nomer. “There was some erroneous blame placed on Spain,” he said. “The greatest danger for the disease spreading comes from the corporate executive who just came back from an international business trip or the tourist who just came back from abroad … In our global age, you can start from El Dorado, Arkansas, and be anywhere in the world within 24 hours — and that’s how local epidemics become global crises.”
Bridges encouraged local residents to stay calm and follow health directives from dependable authorities.
“Listen to the doctors. Listen to health authorities. Don’t spread rumors,” he said. “If you want to help, contact your local United Way. Donate to your local food pantry. Donate to the hospital. Give blood.”