[makomk]

From what I can tell the way society is reacting this particular respiratory pandemic - and the way the media is portraying it - is completely without precedent, so we can't point to history to guide us. Parts of the US might've required mask wearing in 1918, but there wasn't the massive shutdowns of everything or the full-press media coverage we have today. I've seen people who lived through previous major pandemics say they barely noticed them at the time and they weren't exactly front-page news; you certainly couldn't say that about this one, especially after the New York Times dedicated its entire front page to (questionably sourced) names and details of people who've died in order to hammer home the point that this is a massive, vitally important tragedy.

[kennywinker]

Why do you think this is NOT a massive, vitally important tragedy? ~2k americans died in 9/11 and american life was never the same. ~100k americans have died (so far) from this and you think it's not a big deal?

[makomk]

This is a terrible comparison. The raw death toll was not, in any way, shape or form the thing about 9/11 that changed the planet - every flu season kills far more Americans than that, and the big flu pandemics I'm comparing this one to that are almost forgotten were firmly in the 100,000 American deaths ballpark (not to mention the even worse global deaths).

[kennywinker]

Well we hit 100k and it seems to be wrapping up and we’re all immune now so i can’t see anything to be worried about /s

[ambicapter]

~30k Americans died in car accidents every year before this, so clearly there's a disconnect between raw death count and the "vitally important" nature of a tragedy.

[fragmede]

There wasn't Twitter or Facebook in 1918, but the 1918 flu pandemic was headline news in every major newspaper. There were massive shutdowns and ordinances to require mask-wearing were enacted. Parts of the US came to a standstill. That we've forgotten about all of that says more to our biases and the quality of our education system, rather than lack of precedent.

There are many lessons to be learned from 1918, despite all the changes since then. Probably the most relevant one is just how forgotten it had become. If we manage to develop and distribute a COVID-19 vaccine, a few years from now we'll reminisce: remember 2020? Gosh, how weird that was!

There are other lessons too. Like that social distancing works.

Or that rushing to lift restrictions too soon just leads to outbreaks.

America's Forgotten Pandemic: The Influenza of 1918, by Alfred W. Crosby is on Kindle and is interesting reading.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E3UR4EI/