As many states, including Louisiana, start their reopening phases of the COVID-10 pandemic, many on social media are posting about the Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918. These posts vary from memes, to general statements, to aggressive confrontations with other people. But the context of these posts may be misleading.

The main point of these type of posts seem to center around the "second wave" of the 1918 flu pandemic. The creators of the memes, and people who are sharing them, are all declaring that a "second wave" is coming in the COVID-19 pandemic.

It is true that there was a worldwide influenza pandemic in 1918, and that there can be some parallels drawn between that pandemic and today. But for the most part, comparing the two pandemics is very limited due to the circumstances of the world between 1918 and 2020. Especially when it comes to the 1918 "second wave".

Here's a short list of differences between America in 1918, and America in 2020, that will make the same kind of "second wave" difficult:

Even with all of those differences between 1918 and the modern day, the biggest reason for the 1918 "second wave" isn't even on that list. It's also something that is completely impossible with the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

During WWI, the spread of the 1918 flu was accelerated among service members, due to the cramped conditions in overseas warfare. From foxholes to naval ships, soldiers were in close quarters, whether they were ill or not. The flu was just one of many "war diseases", which included dysentery and typhus. The US Navy was estimated to have an infection rate of 40% in 1918.

The end of WWI came quickly in the second half of 1918. The first step of the ending was September 29th with the Armistice of Salonica. The other Central Powers fell like dominoes after, eventually leading to the Treaty of Versailles being signed in June of 1919.

As the war was winding down, soldiers were coming home. Not necessarily, to their doorsteps, but stateside at the least. As these soldiers returned from the battlefield to our shores, or from American bases to their homes, the virus that gripped the military was given a path from shore to shore in the United States. From celebratory parades to basic daily life, the 1918 flu was welcome to spread in a way it had never seen in the previous months.

So, with the basic understanding of science we have today, access to hospitals, running water, hand sanitizer, it's going to be hard to repeat what happened in 1918. It's going to be pretty impossible to do the same since we don't have a Great War wrapping up either.

 

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