Lessons From the 1918 Flu Pandemic

Social distancing works

Comparisons are being made between the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and the 1918 flu, which killed between 50 and 100 million people worldwide, including 675,000 Americans. Modern society could not be more different today, but any time there’s an outbreak with no vaccine, the interventions are similar.

National Geographic reports how aggressive social distancing efforts — banning social gatherings and closing businesses — tamped down cases in U.S. cities during the 1918 pandemic. “St. Louis, San Francisco…