Spanish Flu

Should people be forced to wear face masks in public? That’s the question facing governments as more countries unwind their lockdowns. Over 30 countries have made masks compulsory in public, including Germany, Austria, and Poland. This is despite the science saying masks do little to protect wearers, and only might…

Published on May 4, 2020New York City has a long history of fighting back against disease. But it took a while for the city to learn how. Here is a look at how several 19th century disease outbreaks helped prepare NYC for diseases like the 1918 Spanish Flu and, eventually,…

KNOXVILLE FLASHBACK: THE SPANISH FLU: HOW 1918 WAS THE SAME, BUT VERY DIFFERENT. “Knoxville had once been considered an especially dense city, even by standards of the day. The city had just begun suburbanizing, as symbolized by its recent annexations. But numbers from the era indicate that people who lived…

Long before COVID-19 and years before the Spanish flu, typhoid fever ravaged New York and other cities around the world in a series of epidemics in the early 1900s, teaching lessons still crucial in today’s pandemic.Like, how stupid do people have to be to repudiate life-saving strategies? Then, as now, many…

Image: Dr DisrespectDuring a stream today, Guy “Dr Disrespect” Beahm, whose 4 million followers make him one of the most popular streamers on Twitch, shared two pieces of widely debunked coronavirus-related media with his viewers. Many viewers reacted with shock and disappointment. Others cheered him on. He never dropped his…

See history repeat itself with images of the Spanish flu and COVID-19 outbreaks More than a century after the 1918 Spanish flu, its lessons are still saving lives. Mitigation methods such as face masks and social distancing may seem like foreign practices in the United States, but they would have…

In March, when Politico surveyed "more than 30 smart, macro thinkers" on what will likely change when the pandemic is over, the predictions were heartening, for the most part. They included: a decrease in toxic partisanship, a renewed trust in experts and science, greater government involvement in pharmaceutical production and…

Their Stories Published: April 30, 2020 at 3:45 p.m. ET The pediatric neurological surgeon died from COVID-19 at the New York hospital where he worked Dr. James T. Goodrich Blythedale Children’s Hospital James Goodrich had a stressful job. As a pediatric neurological surgeon, his days were filled with successes and…

Transcript Epidemics Spur Innovative How Thinking Despite the tragic effects of epidemics throughout history, difficult times often lead to ground-breaking innovations THE EFFECTS OF PAST EPIDEMICS The Black Death, mid-1300s Estimated to have killed 30-60% Changed the economic and social structure of Europe of Europe's population Led to the creation…

TOPLINE With the U.S. counting upwards of 61,000 confirmed coronavirus deaths on Wednesday evening, the coronavirus pandemic is more deadly than any flu the country has seen since 1967—but still falls far short of the devastating 1918 Spanish flu pandemic. A funeral home worker wore a face visor to wheel…