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By David Beard, Executive Editor, Newsletters
The U.S. has a habit of prematurely declaring victory over deadly diseases--and then a new wave roars back and kills hundreds of thousands more Americans. At least that was the cycle more than a century ago with the Spanish flu (which actually began at an Army camp in Kansas, pictured above). Back then, there was some opposition to health experts and mask mandates; applause when the mandates ended; surprise when the killing resumed.
These days, Americans face conflicting mask rulings and guidance, signs of a gathering variant, and the approaching milestone of one million documented COVID-19 deaths. Researchers studying the Spanish flu found death rates varied widely by city, based on how early, stringent or prolonged the public health precautions were. (Here’s a look at which cities were able to flatten the curve in 1918-20.)
A century later, drugs and public hygiene have improved dramatically, but the world has become a more crowded, interconnected place, Toby Saul wrote for Nat Geo’s History magazine. And humans still are wired to be impatient, gravitating toward the easy thing—wanting, powerfully, to believe they’ll be fine. History and baseball great Yogi Berra tell us this: It ain’t over till it’s over.
Read the full story here.
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