A Novel Legacy: The 1918 Pandemic (original) (raw)

2020, A Novel Legacy: The 1918 Pandemic

Wash your hands frequently. Wear a mask. Don’t take part in any gathering of more than 10 people. If possible, work from home, and, for the time being, don’t plan on attending school, catching a movie at the local theater, or downing a drink at the corner tavern. Such admonishments have become all too familiar, thanks to the worldwide spread of the novel coronavirus and the disease it produces, COVID-19. There’s nothing novel, however, about the prophylactic measures put in place in recent weeks by government officials across the United States. Indeed, their strategy is ripped from the headlines — of 1918. Although only a handful of people on the planet would have any firsthand recollection of the event, the 1918 outbreak of another novel H1N1 virus — known broadly, if erroneously, as the “Spanish flu” — provided members of the public health community with the playbook now in use. Sadly, their predecessors — the doctors, nurses, and public-health workers of the early 20th century — lacked an experiential template that could inform their actions. Accordingly, the 1918 pandemic took an enormous toll, especially on our nation’s colleges and universities, for reasons that now seem patently obvious: Students work, sleep, eat, and play in close proximity to one another; they travel frequently; and, because of their relative youth, they wield a sense of invulnerability that can manifest in a disregard for public-health warnings and recommendations. The stories of what unfolded on U.S. campuses a century ago are sobering and, at times, heart-rending. However, they’re also inspiring, inasmuch as they offer a glimpse of true heroism and reassurance that, by working together and by caring for one another, we can face — and overcome — the most daunting of challenges.