A Seemingly innocent Parade and the Second Wave of the Spanish Flu 1918
The Spanish Flu crippled our country as well as the world during its early summer of 1918 outbreak. Epidemiologically speaking, an influenza is different from a coronavirus but that made little difference in the early part of the 20th Century due to lack of vaccines, medical supportive care, etc,. An estimated 20-50 million died of the Spanish flu and/or its complications worldwide
What is not common knowledge is the fact that the City of Philadelphia did not cancel its a September 28, 1918 Liberty Loan Parade. The large congregation of the masses lead to a resurgence of the disease at least regionally.
The lesson we can glean from the 1918 parade? - listen up, Bill de Blasio, oh imploding one:
From CBS/NEW YORK — New York City will throw the “biggest, best” ticker-tape parade for its health care workers and first responders once the city reopens from the coronavirus pandemic, the mayor announced Tuesday.“We will honor those who saved us,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said. “The first thing we will do, before we think about anything else, is we will take a time, as only New York City can do, to throw the biggest, best parade to honor these heroes.
“This parade will mark the beginning of our renaissance,” he added. “But it will also be, most importantly, a chance to say thank you to so many good and noble people, so many tough, strong people.” was proposed in NYC
Beyond parades, consider any large gathering that we are missing: the Kentucky Derby, The Indy 500, and so on.It isn’t fun but being outside doesn’t prevent the spread of illness. Why parks were closed when there wasn’t population density there, plenty of room to spread out? The parking lots do not allow social distancing, so the spread of the covid-19 can continue.
