The “Spanish flu,” the world’s most deadly pandemic, infected some 40% of the world’s population and killed 20 to 50 million, 50 to 125 million today as a percentage. Spanish flu originated in China, per the most recent studies, not Spain(?).
I have a theory that World War I ended in part because of the Spanish flu. The Deutsches Heer, the German Army, lost a large number of troops, well over 16,000, to the Spanish flu. Those were troops they could not replace, and the Allies had millions of American soldiers to draw from to replace losses from the Spanish flu; the Germans, who were already losing at the time, sued for peace.
It is interesting that the majority of pandemics originated in China; since they have a very large portion of the world’s population, that is a reasonable assumption. Quite frankly I get upset with the folks who tell us not to worry as the virus (I’ll call it the COVID-19 virus) only kills a small percentage of very old people. Old folks, like those over 60, so let’s not worry; it would only be possibly deadly to a small
number of Americans.
OK, a mere 68.7 million are over 60, add in the very young and younger folks with compromised immune systems, like folks with HIV (1.1 million) and we are talking of a few more folks than we have in the population of Hopkins, Dorr, Martin Moline and Wayland.
Dr. Fauci, an infectious disease expert, has stated that the infections curve will spike at a high number and then go down as other pandemics have. The goal is to not be in the spike, or even better, not have a spike at all by using prevention — good advice.
Do we know if the virus has long-term side effects? No, no we don’t, so what does it hurt to take precautions? To protect the “very old,” those of us 60 and over?
Exactly what is wrong with protecting the young from the unknown long-term side effects of the disease? Damned if I know.
This brings up the $64,000 question: Do folks stay away from people who have been in a high-risk situation? Do we, the ancient ones, mask up in their presence? Do you or yours take precautions to protect the young and old? Are we there yet? Have we reached that point? I think we have.
I found a “book” on Amazon about how to make a cloth/paper/gauze protective mask; the text was a whopping 11 pages, and it did not need to be longer as the process is simple. We downloaded it to a Kindle, and I set out to make a protective mask. Let me say as a tailor I am a good soldier. I cut two squares of old T-shirt, hand stitched them together at the sides, and ran a string through both sides; adjusted the string to fit around my ears and had a basic mask. Will a mask of this type protect you 100%? Not even close, but it will help some, so, do we toss out the good because it is not perfect? The book went on to suggest you take a cloth or paper towel, spray it with an anti-viral, even soap, let it dry and stitch it in between the two pieces of cloth. A perfect solution? No, but it will help to a small degree. It is hard to touch your mouth and nose when covered.
A person with a sewing machine and a bit of skill could make a protective mask even better fitting and much better looking.
The problem with the COVID-19 virus is that we just do not know where it will go from here. Medical experts and scientists model the virus but need to use assumptions as anyone does with models trying to predict the future. An old saying in the Army is assumptions are the mother of all blank-ups. Better to be a part of the solution and not the problem; I vote for prevention and will not mock anyone who takes basic precautions.
The sad part is its not hard to be safe . Wash your hands keep distance between you and others. I have washed my hands so many times I dont think I have finger prints any more.The young people I can kind of understand I lived my invinsible years also but times are not the same.Be safe and be kind.Check on your older neighbors and help were you can.I told my wife with the toilet paper shortage dont throw away the old phone books away.
Mr. Longstreet,
Dennis,
Thank you for the comment, like the reference to the old phone book.
Thanks again.
Good words, Bob. This is important stuff. Your take on assumptions is worth remembering. I recall a teacher, probably in Jr. High, who told us all that “ASSUME makes an ass of you and me
(ASS + U & ME).
I learned of a situation in SE Michigan the other night. A friend, a teen, reported to our teen aged great niece that her family was “having problems”, and asked if she could spend a week (?) or so living with our great niece’s family. This put our niece and her husband in a difficult position. They know the kid that made the request, and feel bad for her. After careful consideration, they said no. Protecting their family needed to be top priority. The kid with the request was not doing the social distancing advised in general, and bringing her into the home for a week would have been an unnecessary risk.
Not all young people are concerned about Covid-19. But their readiness to accept these risks puts others in jeopardy. Ma and Pa may be washing their hands and practicing social distancing, but if their teen is our and about, they are at risk. And the parents, by taking on this risk, are putting the rest of us at greater risk if we interact with them.
Mr. Basura,
Sir.
Thank you for the comment. The virus will get much worse before it gets better and it will get better over time.
I firmly believe a cloth mask, even a home-made cloth mask will help. They will not be 100% effective but will help if nothing else they will keep us from touching our mouth and noise when we are out. A mask can even be made with paper towel, string and tape. Hospitals who run short of N-95 masks are telling staff to use a bandanna and cloth masks as they are much better than nothing.
Hard times need hard decisions, your family members did the correct thing. We all need to think of others during this pandemic.
Thanks again for the comment.