The Spanish Flu

[Jack D]

If you have the time, watching this video will surprise you with the striking similarities and dissimilarities between the Spanish Flu and COVID-19.

 

[JJReyes]

This should have been called the "American" flu because it is believed to have originated in the United States. But this was the start of America's involvement in World War I so you don't want your enemies to know that the epidemic was spreading among your soldiers.  Same thing happened  in other countries involved with the fighting.  The press was under strict censorship.  Spain was neutral and their newspapers openly kept reporting the large number of deaths.  

[jimeve]

11 minutes ago, JJReyes said:

This should have been called the "American" flu because it is believed to have originated in the United States. But this was the start of America's involvement in World War I so you don't want your enemies to know that the epidemic was spreading among your soldiers.  Same thing happened  in other countries involved with the fighting.  The press was under strict censorship.  Spain was neutral and their newspapers openly kept reporting the large number of deaths.  

No one knows the exact country where the Spanish flu originated.

Spanish Flu - Symptoms, How It Began & Ended - HISTORY

[JJReyes]

Granted there are some historians who think the outbreak started in Shanxi Province, China. Most, however, believe the pandemic came from Haskell County, Kansas and it spread through Camp Funston, a U.S. Army base training soldiers to fight in World War I.  Definitely, it was not Spain.  The nations fighting in World War I and their allies where subject to military censorship.  Spain was reporting the rapid spread and large number of deaths.  So it's called the Spanish Flu.

[Jack D]

Maybe it originated in China?... or maybe it originated in Kansas? I just found it interesting to learn that there were so many things in common, such as a first wave and a second wave. Plus, I see the stronger/deadlier mutations of the so-called "Spanish Flu" to be warnings to us with our current COVID-19 problem.