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OhioChick

(23,218 posts)
Thu Apr 16, 2020, 06:11 PM Apr 2020

Instead of learning from the 1918 flu pandemic, we're repeating some past mistakes

Today 8:00 AM

People exposed to the singularly deadly 1918 flu virus would get sick themselves one to four days after that exposure. “Most people got sick in two days,” John Barry, author of “The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History” said in a recent phone interview.

Though clearly not as deadly, the novel coronavirus does have at least one characteristic that is more worrisome, Barry said. Its incubation period ranges from two to 14 days, with most people getting sick at about six days after exposure. “So you’ve got 2.5 times or even triple the incubation period. Plus, the disease moves through the body much more slowly. This is a long war inside the body. And in society.”

The shorter incubation period for the 1918 virus meant that it would pass through particular city or area in “a matter of weeks,” Barry said. But, he said, it’s been clear for some time that this current virus would take “months – at best. It’s going to take a hell of a lot longer to pass through a community.”

The 1918 virus infected one of every three people in the world and killed at least 50 million, maybe as many as 100 million, people. Many who lay dying were covered in blood that they’d coughed up or blood that had oozed from their ears or noses. Some tore abdominal muscles and rib cartilage, they coughed so hard. Some patients turned black -- not black-people black, but black black.

https://www.cleveland.com/coronavirus/2020/04/instead-of-learning-from-the-1918-flu-pandemic-were-repeating-some-past-mistakes.html

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roamer65

(36,739 posts)
1. The 1918 flu virus was quicker and far worse.
Thu Apr 16, 2020, 06:19 PM
Apr 2020

Out of a population of 1.5B, 50-100M perished.

I remember a relative telling me that it was horrible if you got it. People would catch it and be gone the next day.

tblue37

(64,979 posts)
5. Donald Trump's paternal grandfather started feeling sick while on a walk, and the next
Thu Apr 16, 2020, 11:03 PM
Apr 2020

day he was dead from the Spanish flu.I

Yet Trump was surprised to learn this year that the flu can kill people.

Blue_true

(31,261 posts)
2. Someone posted the CDC history of the 1918 virus here on DU.
Thu Apr 16, 2020, 07:19 PM
Apr 2020

The history said that the second wave was far deadlier because it came after the virus had established itself widely. Trump seems determined to repeat that pattern with covid19. The only difference is that in 1918, governments across the USA steadfastly refused to use trained African American nurses to fill a critical nursing shortage, other than that, Trump appears to be repeating every mistake, with a vengeance and malice.

wishstar

(5,267 posts)
3. The turning black and blood oozing was probably from excessive overdoses of aspirin used then
Thu Apr 16, 2020, 07:48 PM
Apr 2020

Has been reported that there was a high intake of aspirin with bad side effects during that pandemic

Delmette2.0

(4,141 posts)
4. You Tube seems to have several documentaries about the 1918 pandemic.
Thu Apr 16, 2020, 10:19 PM
Apr 2020

One is We Heard the Bells: The Influenza of 1918. It's just over an hour long. Dr. Fauci is one of the experts.

There are lots and lots of quick short videos also.

JI7

(89,173 posts)
6. What Trump is doing is not a mistake and he is the reason why we are in this mess in the US
Thu Apr 16, 2020, 11:06 PM
Apr 2020

yeah, other countries are dealing with it also, some better than others depending on their leadership and other matters.

But in the US the biggest problem is Trump and his supporters which include republican governors and mcconnell and others.

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