Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidc...w-york-how-to-fight-coronavirus/#5be10df66064
When The Pandemic Struck New York: How To Fight Coronavirus
David Carlin
Contributor
Feb 29, 2020, 02:46pm
The squares of Rio were empty. Sounds of singing and dancing had been replaced by an unnatural, eerie silence. In Korea, authorities banned public gatherings and imposed a strict quarantine. Neighborhoods were put under curfew. In Odessa, as social order broke down people fell back on ancient rituals and superstitions.
A pandemic was raging. Some evidence suggested it had begun in China, but its origins remained mysterious. Regardless, the infection had spread at breakneck pace. Outbreaks were reported from India to Ireland, Siberia to South Africa. Doctors appeared helpless to contain the virus’s deadly progress.
Hospital wards were packed. The disease seemed to strike young and healthy adults with frightening virulence. Once infected, the unluckiest experienced a series of increasingly terrifying symptoms. Aches and chills developed into fever. Then inflammation kicked in, giving the face a dusky red complexion. Lungs bled and sufferers gasped for air, drowning in their own fluids. The lack of oxygen turned the skin blue, then black. After that, the end usually came quickly.
These are not accounts of the current Coronavirus epidemic, but of the 1918-1919 Spanish Flu that killed perhaps 50 million. The pandemic battered a world already reeling from WWI. While WWI may be better remembered, the Spanish Flu killed three times as many in one year as WWI did in four. As we confront another global health crisis, this “forgotten pandemic” offers essential lessons that could save millions today...
When The Pandemic Struck New York: How To Fight Coronavirus
David Carlin
Contributor
Feb 29, 2020, 02:46pm
The squares of Rio were empty. Sounds of singing and dancing had been replaced by an unnatural, eerie silence. In Korea, authorities banned public gatherings and imposed a strict quarantine. Neighborhoods were put under curfew. In Odessa, as social order broke down people fell back on ancient rituals and superstitions.
A pandemic was raging. Some evidence suggested it had begun in China, but its origins remained mysterious. Regardless, the infection had spread at breakneck pace. Outbreaks were reported from India to Ireland, Siberia to South Africa. Doctors appeared helpless to contain the virus’s deadly progress.
Hospital wards were packed. The disease seemed to strike young and healthy adults with frightening virulence. Once infected, the unluckiest experienced a series of increasingly terrifying symptoms. Aches and chills developed into fever. Then inflammation kicked in, giving the face a dusky red complexion. Lungs bled and sufferers gasped for air, drowning in their own fluids. The lack of oxygen turned the skin blue, then black. After that, the end usually came quickly.
These are not accounts of the current Coronavirus epidemic, but of the 1918-1919 Spanish Flu that killed perhaps 50 million. The pandemic battered a world already reeling from WWI. While WWI may be better remembered, the Spanish Flu killed three times as many in one year as WWI did in four. As we confront another global health crisis, this “forgotten pandemic” offers essential lessons that could save millions today...