MILLIONS AND ONE

The last serious pandemic you might not have been aware of  was the H1N1 (swine flu) in 2009.  It is estimated the H1N1 flu pandemic affected 11 to 21 percent of the, then, global population (of about 6.8 billion), or around 700 million to 1.4 billion people —more in absolute terms than the Spanish flu pandemic.

Actual fatalities reported ranged between 12,000 and 18,000.  However, a 2012 study by the CDC estimated about 284,000 perished from H1N1 virus worldwide but could have been as many as 575,000 deaths.

We Will Never Know

As is happening now with COVID-19, we will never know the true numbers for several reasons: 

• There is no internationally shared standard of identifying the disease in progress.  There are many different ways the virus has been identified from anecdotal evidence to one of the different test kits
• There is no standard way to know how many people had the virus without symptoms or not who have recovered.  What would be needed for this is an internationally-standard antibody test would show the disease existed in someone
• There is no central, trusted global body collecting accurate statistics.
• There is no shared, standard definition of ‘what defines a death from COVID-19’.  For example: is a death where there were complications from existing conditions (such as heart disease) attributable to COVID-19?  If not, what circumstances define a ‘COVID-19 death’?  Should someone who had a heart attack and died -- who was also confirmed as having the virus (or from the treatment of the virus) be listed as a heart attack or a COVID-19 death?
• Healthcare workers are busy saving lives and can’t be expected to take time for too much paperwork.  

For me, contracting H1N1 virus was a miserable and surprisingly abrupt experience that I thankfully survived.  Not the best memory, but I learned what self-quarantine was about.  And during my convalescence I thought about my father.

The Spanish Flu

Of course, as of today, the number of deaths from COVID-19 pales in comparison to the Spanish flu of 1918-19 (A/H1N1).   Keeping that in mind with what's going on today helps keep this tragedy in some perspective.  

The Spanish Flu

The Spanish Flu was an amazing disease that:

• Raged globally from January 1918 to December 1920. 
• Infected around 500 million people (about a quarter of the entire global population at the time). 
• Took a death toll -- like today -- will never be known, but estimates range from 17 to 50 million to as many as 100 million individuals who died (more than all those who died from WWI, WWII, the Korean and Viet Nam War).
• Statistics could not keep up with, were kept manually and some countries never bothered to keep them. 
• Spread despite long-distance transportation being limited to train and ocean liner
• Was constrained because there were no sophisticated communications beyond telegraph
• Arrived before there were computers to build accurate statistical models. 
• Like the proverbial ‘fighting the fire in front of you’ with whatever you have to fight with, decimated the health and spirit of many countries.  

Personal Experience

There would be few alive today with the memory of the Spanish Flu.  Few lived through this time where it was common to anticipate and adjust to the rapid, unexpected loss of sweet loved ones.

Historically, it was not the best of times to be fighting an invisible enemy.  World War I was in progress, people, even in ‘developed’ nations were malnourished and good hygiene was unrecognised. 

Healthcare was primitive enough to consider the flu 'just bad air'.  Medical (not natural) immunisation was barely known.  There were no antibiotics.  People were still being bled to rebalance the ‘humours’.  Most around the world lived in poor, crowded structures without indoor plumbing and vigorous vermin for neighbours.  

When my Dad was sent back early from serving in World War I (He had been mustard-gassed not long after he got to his overseas post.), he arrived at one of the many hot spots in the United States.  This one in Ohio.  He found a job working in what was called a 'Pest House' – sort of a pre-hospital -- for those who were ill with the symptoms of this unknown disease. 

Pest House

He described the endless number of people who arrived day and night at this long, narrow and rather simple building with timber walls, tin roof and cement floor.  

As individuals grew too ill to be cared for at home, they were brought to or dumped at the Pest House.  The names of these individuals were usually recorded in a logbook.  They were carefully laid on cots/ pallets in the front section. 

As the disease progressed, there were stages as they grew increasingly incapacitated.  When each stage was reached (meaning their symptoms were worsening), they were moved further back into the crowded, noisy structure.  Almost no one recovered. 

Each 'section of ‘increased seriousness' was separated from others by heavy, green wool army blankets or waxed tarpaulins hung from wire strung from one side of the building to the other.  

My Dad, being clever with his hands, was consigned to working outside the last section.  He carried water, ran errands to keep some food supplies for the other workers and nurses and he built coffins for the bodies. 

Yet the number of deaths grew too rapidly for him to keep up.  Eventually, the bodies were collected and unceremoniously buried as quickly as possible, in crudely marked or unmarked mass graves -- without coffins or mourners.

Thoughts in Conclusion

What dark times!  So many life-changing lessons he shared with me as I sat spellbound by his memories.  To the day he died -- at home -- he was never in a hospital but twice.  Both times he was unconscious and unable to protest.  He resisted doctors and medicines (but quinine, aspirin and whisky) all his life.    

From his one example, my brother and I grew up with the value of taking good care of our health and our belongings.  We learned to mend and patch items, save things.  We learned to buy a bit extra of something when there was abundance.  We were taught to can and dry foods.  

We watched how important it was to check regularly on our family, friends and neighbours.  We learned how to fish, search for safe mushrooms and wild foods in the forest and hunt and dress our catch. 

We were entrusted with special recipes that could keep someone well-fed on next to nothing and we learned about the value of good hygiene and lots of sunshine and … the value of family love.  

I wonder what the lessons will be for the world from this latest reminder of how fragile we are and how every moment is precious.