A Timely Message from the Past

A Timely Message from the Past

A time traveler from 1918 jumps to the year 2020 to leave a pamphlet on how to assess the Spanish Flu and stop its spread in one of our books. The information inside is exactly the same as what health officials have been telling us to do for months: keep your distance and cover up. Crazy, right? Okay, maybe the time traveler bit is a bit far-fetched and totally fabricated on my end, but the rest of the information isn’t; it really is that simple to beat the COVID-19 virus, just like we beat the Spanish Flu.

Now, if you don’t know anything about the Spanish Flu but know a bit about the Coronavirus, then you actually know about the Spanish Flu as well (or, at the very least, how to beat it). It was a strain of influenza that tore through the world in a pandemic. The “Spanish” part of the name is more pop-culture than exactly where the pandemic originated. News coverage of this new sickness originated in Spain, and that’s where it gets its name.


How did we beat it? Well, we closed down schools, non-essential businesses and functions, covered our faces and kept ourselves clean. It was the same procedure that heath officials want us to do today. 


How long did it last in the US? About a year. The Spanish Flu vaccine wasn’t a thing until around the 1940s, so we really did beat it initially by buckling down and taking care of ourselves and each other. We beat it officially with the vaccine. This Coronavirus is almost past its year mark in the US and we’re currently in a second wave. Aren’t we all fed up with it yet?

I like to think of the virus as Christmas decorations past January 1st: it’s old news, and I’m tired of living with it. I think with the new year, a lot of people are going to be feeling the same way: how do we keep ourselves as clean as our shelves? So when we’re taking down our old decorations and browsing small home décor businesses for a shelf refresh, let’s listen to this pamphlet and our health officials and take the simple precautions, along with our very fortunate vaccine, and beat this thing for a fresh start in the new year.
 
Remember folks: it’s a New Year; take time to refresh your shelves, refresh yourselves, and be kind and courteous to someone else by practicing safe methods. Let’s leave the worst of this virus in 2020.