Myths and echoes: the 1918 pandemic and today.
RCMI SITREP Jun 2020 Does history repeat itself or does it rhyme? Is it wise to design strategy based on old wars? We are rightfully sceptical of writers, who predict the future based their reading of our past. The Spanish 'Flu pandemic of 1918 has been a favourite segue in recent commentaries regarding COVID-19. Commonly repeated myths include assertions that influenza arose in military camps, from swine or poultry kept as sources of fresh food, and that it was spread by allied soldiers of the First World War, particularly North American troops. Reports of influenza outbreaks in neutral Spain, especially when the King became sick, morphed into its origin story in our censor-conscious press. For Canada, it is still said that influenza arrived with soldiers returning from the war in the Summer of 1918. While most of these 'facts' are untrue, remarkable echoes of 1918 can be found in the current pandemic. Pandemics may be named for the year or place of their appea...
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