What the Spanish Flu taught us about Social Distancing
(Abridged)
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread more and more countries are going into lockdown and Governments are urging citizens to practise social distancing - but this isn't the first time this has happened.
In 1918 an influenza strain known as the Spanish flu caused the worst pandemic in centuries. It was thought to have begun in crowded army training camps during World War I where unsanitary conditions helped it incubate and then spread.
When the war ended the soldiers returned home and brought it with them. Between 50 and 100 million people are believed to have died. In two months, New Zealand lost about half as many people to the Spanish flu as it did in the whole of the First World War.
In response to the outbreak, officials told Aucklanders to practice social distancing and enter self-isolation. Public events were cancelled. In Christchurch movie theatres and schools were cancelled. Wellington tried to keep up the appearance of normality and most businesses remained open.
New Zealand is now experiencing something similar over 100 years on from the Spanish flu when on Wednesday, March 25 at 11:59 pm, the whole country entered a four-week lockdown to prevent the spread of COVID-19. But while the Spanish flu was much more deadly, there are still some important notes we can take from it.
Lockdown early. An American study into the influenza by H. Markel for the History of Medicine, University of Michigan Medical School found the most successful approaches to containing the influenza included early, sustained, and layered application of social distancing.
The BBC reported in Philadelphia, during the early stages of the Spanish Influenza, the city's officials decided to go ahead with a local parade despite there being 600 soldiers infected with the virus. Meanwhile in Saint Louis, Missouri, they opted to cancel their parade and introduce other measures to contain the spread of the illness. One month later more than 10,000 people had died of the Spanish flu in Philadelphia, but only 700 in Saint Louis.
While the variables may not be the same, it does show the importance of going into isolation early. One of the main lessons we can learn from the Spanish flu is the importance of not giving up early.