It Was Two Years Ago Today That You-Know-What Began

When I used to write about the 1918-1920 Spanish Flu outbreak that killed so many people all around the world, I never ever thought I would have something like it happen to me.  But, I was sure wrong.  We most certainly did.

Yesterday, we were up north across the border at Donovan's Reef in Twin Lakes, Wisconsin, when Liz mentioned we were there when the COVID-19 officially hit two years earlier on St. Patrick's Day 2020.

Illinois had already closed down the previous day on March 16.  Since we live just eight miles from the Wisconsin border, and Wisconsin was still open, we decided we'd get our St. Patrick's celebration in up there.

We drove there to Donovan's Reef  in Twin Lakes.  A  friend, Jeff,  from Sunnyside Tavern in Johnsburg, Illinois, had the same idea and was already there.    We were having our beer and think corned beef & cabbage, but Barb the bartender, was on the phone a lot calling around Kenosha County and said she was starting to hear that he state of Wisconsin was going to shut down at some point that day.

Finally, she learned that all bars and businesses had to close down by 5 p.m.  A real bad thing as she had a whole lot of corned beef & cabbage to sell. We had drinks until 4:30, and sadly said our goodbyes for whatever lay in store for us.

Two Years Ago.  Oh Well.  --RoadDog

Is a Flu Pandemic Imminent?-- Part 6: "How Bad Flu Can Be"

This newspaper article is from 2018.

Medical science  has continued to   improve its response to influenza.

Most developed nations are sitting on stockpiles of antivirals that work against flu, and new antiviral drugs are in the research pipeline according to Dr. Nicole Bouvier.  "If the pandemic doesn't happen for another five years, we'll have a whole other set of drugs that work in a different way against flu."

Other research has focused on new technologies that can cut vaccine development time down from six months to two months,  she added.  "We'll be able to churn out vaccine much more quickly than we were in the last pandemic in 2009."

Overall, Bouvier believes health officials are better prepared today because the 1918 influenza occurred.

"Having gone through it once, having seen how bad it could be, has made people in the public health and governmental sphere aware of how bad flu can be," she said.  "That may be the biggest lesson we have learned, to not underestimate how bad flu can be."

Well, I Guess a Flu Epidemic Was Imminent Two Years Ago.   --RoadDog

Is a Flu Pandemic Imminent?-- Part 5: Get Those Flu Shots

This is taken from a newspaper article written two years ago.

The history of the 1918 pandemic shows that humans do have one very big advantage in responding to a dangerous new flu strain, Dr. Greg Poland said.  And, that is the modern rite of annual flu vaccination.

In 1918, the flu was particularly deadly to people in their 20s and 30s, and epidemiologists theorize that's because they hadn't previously come into contact with similar influenza viruses.

"Those who have received immunizations in the past do, on average, better than those who haven't," Poland said.  "They build up some immunologic imprinting and memory that serves to help insure they survive."

In other words, the flu shots you've gotten in the past will increase your chances of survival, even if you come down with a nastier strain of flu.

--RoadDog

Is a Flu Pandemic Imminent?-- Part 4: We Had a Dry-Run of Coronavirus in 2018

If such a deadly strain rises, the response to this year's severe flu season (2018) has revealed that health care professionals may be ill-equipped to respond to it, Dr. Greg Poland  argued.

He pointed to recent reports of overrun hospitals setting up makeshift facilities, spot shortages of antiviral medications and a nationwide shortage of IV bags caused by Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico.  

On top of that, there are other concerns that would only arise in the event of a 1918-like influenza, Poland added.  He doubted that there would be enough ventilators to respond to such a scenario and pointed to evidence that shows many health care workers would not go to work in the face of a virus that lethal.

"Much of the antibiotic manufacturer, virtually all the chemicals required for that come outside the U.S., and it's all done in a just-in-time inventory method," Poland said.  "Make the people who run the ships and airplanes sick -- now what?"

This Guy Sure Knew What he Was Talking About.  Maybe We Could get Him to Do the Weather Now.

Is a Flu Epidemic Imminent?-- Part 2: (This Was From 2018)

Greg Poland of the Mayo Clinic is concerned with a new and deadly strain of flu that could emerge that would sweep across the planet, erasing every advantage that modern medicine has given doctors in treating the flu.

"(What) I've learned after thirty years of studying this virus is there's next to nothing predictable about it, and when you begin to feel comfortable, you're well on the road to bad things happening."

The 1918 influenza pandemic killed more people than any other disease outbreak in human history, according to "The Great Influenza" book by John Barry.

"Influenza killed more people in a year than the Black Death of the Middle Ages killed in a century.  It killed more people in 24 weeks than AIDS has killed in 24 years," according to John Barry.

Reckon It Was Imminent Two Years Ago.

Is a Flu Pandemic Imminent? --Part 1

I came across this article in the February 28, 2018, Chicago Tribune that I had put aside back then for possible future coverage on one of my blogs.  "Is a flu pandemic imminent:  One like 1918 outbreak is possible, expert warns" by Dennis Thompson.

This was marking the 100th anniversary of the 1918 "Spanish Flu" outbreak.

"One hundred years ago, the deadliest influenza pandemic of a all time made a ravaging march across the globe.

"The 'Spanish' flu of 1918-1919 infected an estimated one-third of the world's population and killed between 50 million and 100 million people, modern epidemiologists estimate.

"This raises the inevitable question as the United States battles its way through another severe flu season -- could a pandemic as devastating in scope occur in the future?

" 'It's '100 percent' certain that another global flu crisis will happen, said Dr. Greg Poland, a virologist and vaccine researcher with the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.  "There's absolutely no controversy that we will have another pandemic," Poland said.  'What's unpredictable is the severity of it."

Well, Reckon He Was Exactly Right.  --RoadDog

LAUGHTER HELPS WITH THE 'V": I just want to let you know that if you start choking, I will not use the Heimlich maneuver, but will throw shoes at your back from six feet away."

Coronavirus and the Spanish Flu (Which Hit 102 Years Ago This Week)

Sure has made the headlines with all the St. Patrick's and sporting events cancelled the last few days.

I can't help but believe this is partially fueled by the media where disaster equals big bucks for advertising.  Just look at the weather channel come a good-sized hurricane.

But, diseases are nothing to ignore and it is better to be careful than not.  However, I didn't go out and stock up on toilet paper or food. When we have several deaths and a hundred cases here in McHenry County, Illinois, I will then be taking really serious steps to deal with it.

Yesterday, we were at Donovan's Reef in Twin Lakes,Wisconsin, and playing our usual This Happened on Today's Date trivia game.  And, one of the items on it was March 11, 1918, when the first known case of what became known as the Spanish Flu broke out in Fort Riley, Kansas. By the end of the day, over 100 soldiers were sick with it.

And, with all the Coronavirus going on right now, 102 years later.

Now, that Spanish Flu was a really, really bad pandemic.  It is estimated that anywhere between 17 million and 50 million people died of it across the world and the United States was particularly hard hit.

So.