Thread by @Milhouse_Van_Ho, Stop comparing covid-19 to the Spanish Flu.For more perspective on how they [...]

Stop comparing covid-19 to the Spanish Flu.

For more perspective on how they are different, let's look at our own history. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/1918-spanish-flu-in-canada

1918 Spanish Flu in Canada

https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/1918-spanish-flu-in-canada

"In 1918–19, [Spanish Flu] killed between 20 and 100 million people, including some 50,000 Canadians."

Covid-19 has killed 9,255 Canadians since last winter, and about a million worldwide.

But Canada's population is now almost 5x larger and the world has 4x more people.

So that would be like 250,000 dead Canadians and 80-400 million fatalities worldwide if the Spanish Flu happened today.

"Unlike most strains of influenza, which are dangerous for those with reduced immunity (e.g., the elderly, the very young and those with pre-existing conditions), the 1918 flu tended to kill the young and hearty."

71.3% of covid-19 deaths are among the 80+.

"Some entire villages were wiped out by the disease. Labrador, Quebec and First Nations reserves were particularly hard hit."

I haven't heard of any villages being wiped out by covid-19.

"All medical facilities and personnel were soon overtaxed and volunteers organized infirmaries in schools and hotels."

Covid-19 undoubtedly put pressure on our healthcare system, but our ICUs were never maxed out with covid patients.

I haven't seen much coverage of temporary hospitals in Canada (or infirmaries in schools and hotels for that matter), but the ones in the U.S. turned out to be largely unnecessary. https://www.npr.org/2020/05/07/851712311/u-s-field-hospitals-stand-down-most-without-treating-any-covid-19-patients

U.S. Field Hospitals Stand Down, Most Without Treating Any COVID-19 Patients

Across the U.S., convention centers and empty fields were transformed into emergency field hospitals at a cost to federal taxpayers of more than $660 million. Most haven't treated a single patient.

https://www.npr.org/2020/05/07/851712311/u-s-field-hospitals-stand-down-most-without-treating-any-covid-19-patients

"Children were left parentless and many families found themselves without their chief wage earner."

I'm sure you could find tragic covid-19 stories, but this line could certainly never be used to generalize our experience today.

"Businesses lost profits because of lack of demand for their products or because they were unable — as a result of a reduced work force — to meet the demand."

This is true now, but the government-imposed shutdowns of businesses and other restrictions are mostly to blame.

"Provinces enacted laws regarding quarantine and enforced the wearing of masks in public."

So this is common with today, but did it actually prevent any deaths? https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/04/02/everyone-wore-masks-during-1918-flu-pandemic-they-were-useless/

Everyone wore masks during the 1918 flu pandemic. They were useless.

In 1918, people decorated their masks for parties, cut flaps in them for cigarettes and wore them to the movies.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/04/02/everyone-wore-masks-during-1918-flu-pandemic-they-were-useless/

"The influenza strain, although decreasingly virulent, remained active in Canada until the mid-1920s. It has since been identified as an H1N1 virus."

The current H1 influenza strain is antigenically identical to the 1918 flu. Life carries on.

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