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1918 flu pandemic "second wave" history echoes warnings for today

You’ve probably been hearing a lot of sources comparing today’s COVID-19 Pandemic to one that happened back in 1918. You’ve probably also heard a lot of people talking about a second wave that could hit communities if we don’t continue the practice of social distancing.

Back in 1918, Michigan was a very different place than it is today. Jillian Reese is the curator of exhibits of the “Michigan History Center” in Lansing.

“So, like much of the United States, Michigan was transitioning from an agrarian lifestyle into being the industrial powerhouse that we know of it today,” Reese says.

The United States had entered World War I in April of 1917. The following April, a military camp in Kansas reported that soldiers in training were dying from an illness that doctors had never seen before. Louise Shaw is the curator at the “David J Sencer CDC Museum at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention” in Atlanta, Georgia.

“In the Fall of 1918--in September--there was a bad outbreak in Fort Devens which is outside of Boston,” Shaw says.

And this is when things got really bad. Especially here in Michigan. Jillian Reese says the outbreak seemed to start out at Camp Custer, a military base between Kalamazoo and Battle Creek.

“They knew that this was a problem in the military,” she says. “But public health professionals thought that everyday citizens would be safe from the virus.”

Michigan leaders at the time were hesitant to shut communities down, especially because factories in Detroit and iron and copper mines in the U.P. were needed for the war effort. But the pandemic’s second wave was beginning to impact other parts of the U.S. as well. Louise Shaw says cities like Philadelphia were hit hard.

“There was (sic) these great patriotic drives, to collect money to celebrate the United States’ patriotism, the contribution of the troops,” Shaw explains. “And they had scheduled a parade, to raise money for Liberty Bonds, and there were 25,000 people at the parade. But it led to more than 12,000 people dying in six weeks in Philadelphia. On the other hand, in St. Louis, the local leaders force much more strict measures--more like what we're experiencing right now--and they had far fewer cases.”

By the end of October, the second wave of the 1918 pandemic was reaching its peak across the U.S. According to the CDC, an estimated 195,000 Americans died that month alone. That November, World War I ended at last. But Jillian Reese says the celebrations caused more problems.

“There were all these ticker tape parades ‘cause people wanted to celebrate…and then there was a huge spike,” Reese explains. “So I think one of the takeaways is that many people didn't stop their everyday life, and that made it worse. That meant that more people were dying. That meant that we still had you know, another three, four months of the outbreak.”

According to the CDC, the 1918 Flu Pandemic surged forward with a third wave in January of 1919.

Looking back, it was clear the world would never be the same again. The CDC estimates 50 million people died worldwide. Reese says the trauma affected everyone.

“The modernization of the society socially was very accelerated, because you had whole generations of families that had died, whether it be from war or from disease,” she says.

“You can then see why in the 1920s people really let loose, and the 1920s were sort of this decade where people really wanted to enjoy themselves.”

Today, on the front lines of documenting COVID-19 for future historians, CDC Museum Curator Louise Shaw says this is like nothing she’s ever experienced before.

“I am just wondering you know what are the implications on our personal lives? On our professional lives, on our civil society, on our country and on the globe,” she says. “So that’s just one of those things that we’re gonna have to play it by day and week and month and year and see, and ultimately, we will have some hindsight about all of this.”

Shaw echoes the words of many people: that we’re all in this together, and we need to work together to keep people healthy and safe.

You can learn more about the 1918 Flu Pandemic by visiting the CDC’s website.