[Tech1] Fwd: 1918 vs 2020 pandemics

[ROGER BUNCE]

All we really need is a Pocket full of Poseys!

------ Original Message ------
From: "Bernard Newnham via Tech1" <tech1 at tech-ops.co.uk>
To: "tech1 at tech-ops.co.uk" <tech1 at tech-ops.co.uk>
Sent: Friday, 18 Sep, 20 At 23:21
Subject: [Tech1] Fwd: 1918 vs 2020 pandemics



        -------- Forwarded Message --------       Subject: 
1918 vs 2020 pandemicsDate: Fri, 18 Sep 2020 14:30:27 -0400From: Michael 
Du Boulay <mduboulay at sympatico.ca> <mailto:mduboulay at sympatico.ca> To: 
Michael Du Boulay <mduboulay at sympatico.ca> 
<mailto:mduboulay at sympatico.ca>



Image of               disposable surgery masks.
Children               at Victoria Park Forest School in Toronto 
practice blowing               their noses in 1913 (photo courtesy of 
the City of Toronto Archives,                     external link, opens 
in new window 
<https://gencat.eloquent-systems.com/city-of-toronto-archives-m-permalink.html?key=80080> 
).
Dr.             Arne Kislenko is an Associate Professor of History at 
Ryerson. In this piece, he’ll explore how the lives of 
Canadians were affected by the Spanish Flu in 1918 and 
compare it to life today.
1918             vs. 2020: Comparing Pandemics in Canadian History
While             no one can predict what will happen with the COVID-19 
crisis, we can draw on history for an understanding of how 
previous generations survived pandemics. The 1918 “Spanish 
Flu” was amongst the deadliest in history: killing an 
estimated 50 to 100 million worldwide, roughly 5 percent of 
the global populace. Nearly 55,000 Canadians died —  almost 
as many as Canada lost during the First World War.
Like             today, schools, businesses, and public places were 
closed.             Governments mandated the wearing of masks. People 
practiced             social-distancing. Quarantines were enforced. But 
still the             pandemic spread. By October 1918, Toronto Western 
Hospital             was full with the sick: half of its nursing staff 
included.             Assertions that the outbreak was confined 
overseas, or that             purported cases here were just seasonal 
grippe, gave way to             urgent warnings.
In             Montreal, trolley cars became hearses to move the dead. 
Woodworkers in Ontario had a hard time meeting the demand 
for coffins. Some pushed for schools to reopen, arguing that 
by keeping children in classes they wouldn’t run around 
infecting others. Eaton’s and other stores advertised 
sensational cure-alls. People tied mothballs around their 
necks to ward off disease. The sick were treated with lard, 
tree resins, and mustard among other ‘home-made’ remedies. 
Doctors used baking soda, milk, and heroin for their 
patients. Some people refused to wear masks, provoking anger 
from those who did. And in the midst of it all, experts 
debated different treatments, and worked feverishly to 
discover a ‘cure’. Connaught Laboratories in Toronto 
developed a vaccine by late 1918, but offered consumers no 
guarantee it would work. Some retreated to Canada’s 
wilderness, convinced they could ‘hide out’ from the virus. 
But modernity proved that notion false: trains, roads, and 
water routes spread the flu to the most remote parts of the 
country. Cree and Métis communities in and around Norway 
House had a mortality rate of one in ten. Just as in 2020, 
marginalized populations were particularly ravaged. 
Indigenous communities faced a mortality rate five times the 
national average.
Like             2020, in 1918-1919 life dramatically changed. 
Businesses             collapsed. There were shortages of essential 
goods. And             there were fears about ‘waves’, especially as 
governments             hurried to phase in ‘re-openings’. When the 
virus             dissipated, Canada emerged a different country. A 
federal             Department of Health was created. Many lessons were 
learned             about disease control and governance. Just like the 
Great             War, the flu illustrated that Canada was not immune to 
the             vagaries of the global order. Some communities were 
destroyed, or changed forever. But Canadians also proved 
resilient: developing stronger senses of community through 
volunteerism and collective action.
Still,             there are crucial differences between the pandemics. 
Other             diseases like tuberculosis and typhoid were widespread 
in             1918. There was no public health insurance, diets were 
poorer, and sanitation standards were lower. Vaccination 
programmes were in their infancy, while antiviral drugs and 
other ‘front-line’ technologies used today were 
non-existent. In so many ways, 1918 and 2020 are vastly 
different, rendering comparisons difficult.
What             we have learned is that viruses are living social 
laboratories with many variables. And despite advances in 
medicine, the ‘old ideas’ of basic prevention, social 
distancing, and quarantine remain the best defense. We’ve 
also learned that only through patient and concerted action 
can we manage the historical realities of pandemics.
J




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