Greetings ~
At this writing, we have been dealing with the Coronavirus for several months. The country is shut down and it's citizens have been directed to "stay at home". Close to 20,000 people have died, (today's estimate). So, is this the worst pandemic that the United States has ever had to deal with? No! It is not. We only feel that way because most people, especially young people do not know our history. And, even though I am a supporter of president Donald Trump, he was wrong when he stated that this is the worst pandemic we Americans have 'ever' had to deal with. Our worst time was the Spanish Influenza of 1918.
The 1918 Spanish Influenza actually did not come from Spain. Much like the 2020 pandemic, experts have reported that it originated in China and spread throughout Europe and was carried to America. This is the very same path taken by the Coronavirus today. In the early part of the 20th century, there was more media freedoms and the spread through Spain was reported much more than other areas at it's beginning. Even though it wasn't true, most people thought that many, many more people were sick and dying in Spain so it must be a lot worse there so it must have begun there. But that was only because Europe and America stiffled it's effects at first much like they always do when something like this happens. Do they really think that if they downplay the numbers, it won't get worse? This actually helps more than anything else to feed the spread of the disease.
The Influenza took place from January 1918 to December 1920. There were a few additional case beyond 1920, as far as 1923. It infected 500-million people worldwide with estiments rising to 100-million. The death toll reached anywhere from 17-million to 50-million deaths from the pandemic. To this date, the 1918 Influenza is recorded as the deadiest pandemic in human history. It caused it's most deaths in the United Kingdom, France, Germany and America. Young adults were the main target unlike the pandemic we are dealing with today. The 1918 flu was spread to Spain from France in November 1918 mainly because Spain had not limited travel at the time.
At the time World War I was raging and the Influenza spread rapidly throughout the ranks and through the field hospitals. And as we now call it the 1918 Influenza, experts tell us now that the first cases actually were recorded as early as 1915.
So, because not many understand the effects of the 1918 pandemic, many believe that the Coronavirus is the worst panemic in our history. No, it isn't. Of course this is not to underscore the disease that we are dealing with today. It mearly shows that this is an ongoing problem that we must deal with from time to time. Maybe the Comunist Chinese government should begin to take a good long look at how they live. Maybe it's time for China to stop eatting dogs, rats and bats. Just a thought.