The 1918 Flu Pandemic or

[Arctic Fox]

Spanish Flu infected 500 million people and killed an estimated 50 million. The World's population was 1.5 billion.

Comparable rates for today's population of 7.8 billion would be 2.6 billion infected and 260 million killed.

Current figures for Covid-19 are 15.3 million infected and 624 thousand killed.

Possible reasons for the huge differences include:

1) Covid-19 still has a long time to run;
2) Spanish Flu was a lot more virulent;
3) We have managed to contain Covid-19 a lot better;
4) A combination of all of these, plus other factors.

Since we really don't want 259 million more deaths, please continue to be diligent about mask-wearing, hand-washing and social distancing.

Thank you

[golfing eagles]

Spanish Flu infected 500 million people and killed an estimated 50 million. The World's population was 1.5 billion.

Comparable rates for today's population of 7.8 billion would be 2.6 billion infected and 260 million killed.

Current figures for Covid-19 are 15.3 million infected and 624 thousand killed.

Possible reasons for the huge differences include:

1) Covid-19 still has a long time to run;
2) Spanish Flu was a lot more virulent;
3) We have managed to contain Covid-19 a lot better;
4) A combination of all of these, plus other factors.

Since we really don't want 259 million more deaths, please continue to be diligent about mask-wearing, hand-washing and social distancing.

Thank you

There are many reasons for this, and very difficult to make a comparison with 100 years ago

1) Many of the deaths were due to secondary bacterial infections, in an era with no antibiotics
2) We have anti-viral treatments that were not available 100 years ago
3) Most of today's pandemic viruses are direct descendants of that Spanish Flu strain, but for reasons that virologists cannot explain, these viruses have become less virulent over the years, when the expectation would be for increased virulence
4) There were more deaths in the second wave in 1919
5) We have a better understanding of social distancing, masks, self quarantine today. While they did quarantine flu cases back then, many people lived in very cramped housing in urban areas.
6) Despite a lot less international mobility 100 years ago, Spanish flu made it around the world in a hurry just like today

I'm sure there are more reasons that I didn't think of.

[Gpsma]

And 29 million got the flu last year.

Where were the masks...lol

[John41]

The scary thing is scientists have learned to engineer more deadly viruses. I am not so hopeful for the future of humanity.

[davem4616]

very difficult to compare 1918 to 2020 ...way, way too many variables to consider

I'll leave the statistics to those that like doing that...what's important to me is staying safe and thereby increasing my individual chances of avoiding being a statistical casualty of this virus

[papillon]

21.6 million Covid-19 cases so far. 769,481 people worldwide have died from Covid-19 so far. The flu last year killed 34,200. Covid-19 is considerably more deadly than the "flu".

[Byte1]

21.6 million Covid-19 cases so far. 769,481 people worldwide have died from Covid-19 so far. The flu last year killed 34,200. Covid-19 is considerably more deadly than the "flu".

"CDC estimates that influenza was associated with more than 48.8 million illnesses, more than 22.7 million medical visits, 959,000 hospitalizations, and 79,400 deaths during the 2017–2018 influenza season." -- cdc.gov

In the 2018 news clips they quote CDC as saying 80,000 died in America related to the flu. Regardless, we have had several pandemics and survived. This is not the end of the world. If I am wrong and it is the end of the world, then I guess rather than running amok in panic, you should set things right with your maker.