How does Coronavirus (Covid-19) compare to Spanish flu? | Curious Droid podcast (Transcript)

At Simon Says, our hearts go out to all those affected by the pandemic. We hope and pray you and your families are safe.

We have worked on the below in the spirit to share informative and engaging perspectives which may have utility during this time.

How does Coronavirus (Covid-19) compare to Spanish flu?

Curious Droid
Length: 14 mins | Released: March 18, 2020

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The last time we saw a truly worldwide pandemic was the 1918 Spanish Flu outbreak just over 100 years ago but how does it compare to the current Covid-19 situation. We know that Spanish Flu infected about 30% of the then world population of 1.8 billion and went on the kill somewhere between 13.5 to 50 million depending on how you interpret the data. It's virtually impossible that this would happen again as we know far more than we did then and have antibiotics for pneumonia and experimental antiviral drugs, even though we don't have a vaccine yet. We are also working together rather than fighting the first world war as they were when the Spanish Flu outbreak started.

Paul Shillito: There is a saying which goes a bit like this: The man that looks to the past and the future is blind in one eye, but the man who looks to the future only is blind in both.

Paul Shillito: Although this is something which we should heed at all times, in the case of a current coronavirus, it is particularly relevant because, with the advantage of hindsight, we can see where we made big mistakes in the past either from just sheer lack of knowledge at the time or from some misguided belief that covering things up, for whatever reason, will somehow make less of an issueÔøΩ something which continues in places around the world today.

Paul Shillito: So with the biggest worldwide response to a pandemic in 100 years, how does the coronavirus, or Covid-19, compare to the last truly global pandemic of Spanish Flu from 1918 to 1920?

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