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[h=1]A Key Lesson From The 1918 Flu Pandemic? 'Tell The Truth,' One Historian Says[/h] By editor ? Dec 21, 2017
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Originally published on December 21, 2017 7:55 am
The death toll from the 1918 flu pandemic surpassed all the military deaths in the two world wars.
Here & Now?s Peter O?Dowd speaks with historian John M. Barry (@johnmbarry), who wrote about it in his book ?The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History.?
...On what we can learn from 1918 ?No. 1, if you want society to continue to function I think you need to tell the truth. I think, No. 2, or maybe this is the most important lesson, is to take the disease seriously and put some resources into finding a universal vaccine. There are measures you can take that, you know, which would work for any infectious disease or seasonal influenza that could do some good, but they?re not going to do tremendous amount of good. For example, washing your hands, as simple as that sounds, that helps protect you. The so-called non-pharmaceutical interventions I mentioned a few minutes ago are are pretty much self-explanatory. They generally refer to social distancing. I mean, that?s self-explanatory. Basically keeping yourself away from from other people. But since this has to be sustained over a period of weeks, you know, it?s not feasible to just lock yourself in a closet. Even in a lethal pandemic, that?s not going to work very well.?
Listen
Originally published on December 21, 2017 7:55 am
The death toll from the 1918 flu pandemic surpassed all the military deaths in the two world wars.
Here & Now?s Peter O?Dowd speaks with historian John M. Barry (@johnmbarry), who wrote about it in his book ?The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History.?
- Learn more in Barry?s piece for Smithsonian Magazine, and a panel discussion in which he was featured on ?The Next Pandemic: Are We Prepared??
...On what we can learn from 1918 ?No. 1, if you want society to continue to function I think you need to tell the truth. I think, No. 2, or maybe this is the most important lesson, is to take the disease seriously and put some resources into finding a universal vaccine. There are measures you can take that, you know, which would work for any infectious disease or seasonal influenza that could do some good, but they?re not going to do tremendous amount of good. For example, washing your hands, as simple as that sounds, that helps protect you. The so-called non-pharmaceutical interventions I mentioned a few minutes ago are are pretty much self-explanatory. They generally refer to social distancing. I mean, that?s self-explanatory. Basically keeping yourself away from from other people. But since this has to be sustained over a period of weeks, you know, it?s not feasible to just lock yourself in a closet. Even in a lethal pandemic, that?s not going to work very well.?
