Spanish Flu vs Covid-19, which is the worst pandemic?. Farzana PriorЧитать онлайн книгу.
a great window that could have been used for preparation. Had this month been used effectively, the peak could have been lower than that of the EU, not higher.
Various countries in the EU also started implementing lockdown measures decisively and strictly, resulting in a drop in the number of new cases. In contrast, the US has been fairly ambiguous and indecisive in implementing lockdown measures, resulting in a relatively small drop in the number of new cases.
The US should have taken advantage of the one month lead time by applying strict quarantine measures to every flight that came into their country, knowing that the epidemic was becoming a full-on pandemic. Covid-19 infected patients and those that tested positive should not have been allowed into the country until they were cleared of infection and tested negative. Masks should have been made compulsory, in the US, as early as March 2019.
As can be seen, preparedness and a coordinated management of a pandemic across regions in a country or across borders with neighbouring countries is key to controlling the pandemic.
Origin and Spread of two vIruses
Historians say that the origin of the Spanish Flu were the ninety-six thousand Chinese workers who were shipped from Northern China, to support the war effort in the UK and France. The Chinese labourers arrived in Southern England by January 1918 and were sent to France. These labourers were ill with a respiratory illness as was documented by the Chinese Hospital in France, at the time.
The United States entered World War 1 in April 1917 and troops were deployed to Europe in support of the war. During the course of the war, the US troops brought with them a mild flu strain and became exposed to the Chinese strain of the flu. The resultant cross-infection resulted in what came to be known as the “Spanish Flu”, and was spread to Norway, China, India, New Zealand, and South Africa. Even islands weren’t safe. Within four months, the virus had travelled the world and returned to the USA to produce the second wave in the heart of the winter of 1918.
Spain was neutral during the war and had no press restrictions during the time, so after freely reporting about the disease, it became mislabelled as the “Spanish Flu”.
In late August 1918, military ships left the English city of Plymouth carrying troops unknowingly infected with the new, deadly Spanish Flu to Brest (France), Boston (US) and Freetown (West Africa). The movement of soldiers around the world in crowded conditions contributed to the Spanish Flu becoming a pandemic.
Back in the US, the Spanish Flu completely wiped out entire villages in Alaska, and other villages lost most of their adult population. In low economic areas, there were no adults well enough to prepare food, or even alive to buy food.
The cities fared poorly too. New York City buried 33,000 victims; Philadelphia lost 13,000 victims in a matter of weeks. Overwhelmed with bodies, many cities ran out of coffins and cars were used as hearses, to keep up with demand.
Some victims were left in their homes for days due to the backlog. Undertakers were overwhelmed and took advantage of the situation by increasing burial costs by six hundred percent. Cemetery officials were charging burial fees and then made the family dig the grave for the deceased themselves.
The Allies were on the verge of winning the war, so ships carrying troops had to keep moving, and homeland morale had to be kept high to raise money for the war effort. Politicians, the media, and public health officials didn’t communicate honestly about the flu, because there was a world war going on. Some of the Allied forces also believed that the Spanish Flu was a biological warfare tool introduced by the Germans, similar to the mustard gas used by the Germans.
The US army also did a better job of keeping healthy troops in the front line than the Germans did. This was accomplished through the use of ambulance trains that treated US troops and then got them back to the front line. In so doing, the Allied forces attacked and overran the German army, forcing them to sue for peace. While the war had been devastating, the Spanish Flu was even more devastating. The Spanish Flu accounted for more deaths than the war itself and resulted in deaths amongst those not directly involved in or affected by the war.
Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.
Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».
Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.
Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.