Lessons from the 1918 Spanish Influenza.

I have been nerding out lately by looking at photos from the 1918 Spanish Influenza and I've realized something. In general, there is an unfortunate tendency for contemporary people to look back at the past in a condescending or belittling way. It's easy to think of earlier humans as being silly or rudimentary. While it's true that in the modern age we have machines that can keep people alive and we have chemicals that can extend a person's life, but biologically, we are essentially identical to the people who lived during the 1918 flu. Their only defenses against the virus were behavioral solutions. There was no such thing as a vaccine and there wouldn't be for decades. Today, we really hang our hat on the idea of a vaccine being able to get us through the Covid-19 pandemic, but when that medical breakthrough is at least two years away, isn't that the same as living in a world where no such solution exists at all?

My point is a simple one: I think it's time for us to start looking at photos like these and learn to admire the people we see in them. They should be viewed as models. It's unfortunate that we do not have leadership that is preparing us mentally for the extremely difficult road ahead. Just like the people in these photos, our hope is only slightly based in medical treatments, but it's mostly based in behavioral solutions and behavioral sacrifices. There is a long way for us to go, but at least we have a model to guide us. Many of the people in these photos have one up on us; because they can say they survived a pandemic. As of right now, we can't.

A physics class being held outside at the University of Montana, Missoula in 1919.

Workers from the American Red Cross make a house call to a family that had fallen ill with the Spanish Influenza.

School girls in Japan wear masks to prevent the spread of Spanish Influenza.

Workers from the American Red Cross tend to patients in a makeshift hospital set up in the Oakland Municipal Auditorium in 1918.

An emergency hospital is set up to care for patients in Brookline, Massachusetts in October of 1918.

A typist uses a cloth face covering while at work in October of 1918.

A group of nurses during the 1918 Influenza.

An open-air court proceeding being held in 1918 San Francisco.

Soldiers from the US Army during the 1918 Influenza.

A barber provides services to clients in 1919 at University of California, Berkeley.

The U.S. Army 39th regiment wear masks in Seattle on their way to France.