What Stopped the Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918 ?

So far the Spanish Flu was much worse than the the current Covid 19 nightmare.

Supposedly it killed 50.000,000 people before it ended !

But why did it end? - I keep looking it up and all I find are simplistic statements like:

"By the summer of 1919, the flu pandemic came to an end, as those that were infected either died or developed immunity."


That's too simplistic an answer - And if we are to find a way to end the current Covid 19 pandemic, knowing what actually brought
the Spanish Flu to an end, might be advantageous.


Anyone actually know the answer???
Or,would anyone like to guess at the answer ???

a reply to: AlienView
The clear answer, to me at least is: They put social distancing into place back then.

I hate to say it but my country put social distancing and wearing masks in the indoor public

To compare:
Germany has around 82 million residents
USA has around 328 million residents
= factor of around 4.

So Germany is around 4 times more populated than the USA, yet our numbers are lower.
But USA is around 18-20 times bigger than Germany. Around 80% of Americans live in or near cities and only 20% live very rural.

This leads me to no other conclusion that at least the social distancing worked. The masks, not sure, since most of them are not suitable but they will decrease the viral load at least a bit. Just because the thing can get through the material, does not mean that 100% will get through.

I hate masks and the social distancing but the latter one I have to say, it seems to work. Masks, unsure. My impression.

a reply to: ThatDamnDuckAgain

It's clear social distancing impacts the ability of the virus transmisability, without hosts to latch onto the virus cant thrive.

I still can't find a clear explanation as to how and why it ended
- But this short video, including a statement from a survivor, gives a warning of what might happen if we assume we have
it under control when we really don''t.

San Francisco Paid the Price for Lifting Spanish Flu Lockdown Early



This might also make you wonder what is going to happen in the aftermath of all the demonstrations, riots, etc.
over the George Floyd, and others, killing - Will this cause a big spike in infection rate ???

The Spanish Flu ran its course.
Just
Like
Any
Other
Flu.

a reply to: AlienView

Maybe this will help.

www.theghanareport.com...

originally posted by: ThatDamnDuckAgain
a reply to: AlienView
…

To compare:
Germany has around 82 million residents
USA has around 328 million residents
= factor of around 4.

So Germany is around 4 times more populated than the USA, yet our numbers are lower.


...

I don't understand this math. Can you explain?

If you had said "Germany is 4 times LESS populated" (which would be accurate) then the last half of your sentence wouldn't make sense either. Well, it would but it's kind of a no-brainer. So I'm confused.

Are you making some kind of a statement about population per square area (kilometer, etc.)?

You can call it what you want. But is it false to say where ever there is a hot spot or outbreak, people either have to die or develop herd immunity for the virus to disappear from the population.

Social distancing can slow the spread of the coronavirus. It doesn’t make the virus disappear.

a reply to: AlienView

From all I've been able to gather, no one really knows, for certain, why the Spanish Flu disappeared...or if it ever really did.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Sorry I was in a haste and unclear on that. Good that you point this out.

USA has approx 'only' 4 times more people but is approx. 19 times bigger.

19 times the surface but 4 time more people is actually 4,75 but I dropped the 0,75 in favor of USA.

So if we ignore the 80/20% spread on city/rural for simplicity sake, we have around 4 times more people in the same space. This makes Germany 4 times more dense populated than the USA. Yet we have around factor 9 lower numbers.

This is why I think my government, as bad as I find it, in retrospective did a not so bad job keeping the numbers low.

What I talk about is population density
The official numbers in population density for
USA is 35,8 people per km²
Germany is 232,5 people per km²

232/35,8 = factor 6,42
Taking into account the vast unpopulated land, I think if we settle around 4 it seems to be fair and in favor of the USA in this number game.

Of course these numbers are different for bigger cities, you have more of those but the general spread is more even here.




This is not a game about who is better, I just try to make sense of my observations.

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk
a reply to: AlienView

From all I've been able to gather, no one really knows, for certain, why the Spanish Flu disappeared...or if it ever really did.

I'm no scientist, just a humble Clinical Aromatherapist, but I have been thinking for a while now, especially with the recent blood clotting symptom that this 'thing' is like a cross of the Spanish Flu and a Coronavirus.

Rainbows
Jane

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

He's referring to population density. The denser the population the easier the virus spreads. Brazil and India are learning that now. That's why the more population-dense areas in the US (NY and LA areas) were hit hardest.

originally posted by: angelchemuel
I'm no scientist, just a humble Clinical Aromatherapist, but I have been thinking for a while now, especially with the recent blood clotting symptom that this 'thing' is like a cross of the Spanish Flu and a Coronavirus.

Rainbows
Jane

Please don't do that. COVID is not a flu and is not related to any flu. Respiratory illnesses all share the same symptomology for the most part. Much of the non-respiratory symptoms are the result of our bodies attempting to fight the infection and the side-effects of that. Lyme disease is a great example of an illness where most of the symptoms are related to the activity of our immune systems.

originally posted by: Gothmog
The Spanish Flu ran its course.
Just
Like
Any
Other
Flu.

Infecting 500 million and killing 50 million in the two years it "ran its course".

a reply to: jtma508
Yes, I do understand that perfectly....what I am implying that the two have been messed about with in a lab.
As to Lyme's disease.......So many diagnosed Fybromyalgia sufferers in my view are Lyme Disease.
The Immune System next to the olfactory and nervous systems are the main ones Aromatherapists look at.

Rainbows
Jane

a reply to: jtma508
Yes I am referring to the population density in combination with this graph:



I added the bold-black English text for translation sake.
The chart is logarithm, keep that in mind.

I just want to make sense of my observations. These give me no other options to conclude that social distancing is effective. Am all ears open for explanations. Again, not a jerking contest (BTW I could not even join ).

Source: Zeit.de
More left than centered, but they have a nice graph but the data is not theirs.

originally posted by: AlienView
What Stopped the Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918 ?

People hid like veals in their homes and the devastating economic fallout from this scared the Spanish Flu into hiding.

Also, several state governors murdered their citizens by forcing infected patients to live with non-infected high-risk people thereby eliminating the ones it would most likely kill quicker.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

From wiki
en.wikipedia.org...

One explanation for the rapid decline in the lethality of the disease is that doctors became more effective in prevention and treatment of the pneumonia that developed after the victims had contracted the virus.

Remember Italy when only a low percentage survived on ventilators? Because the problem was not muscular or nerve wise, it was the exchange of oxygen in the lungs that troubled the patients.

Mistakes have been made, like they have been made before and will me made in the future. It is not the official accepted explanation but the sharp decline back then is strange nonetheless.

a reply to: ThatDamnDuckAgain

I'm sticking to my over-reactionary theory.

a reply to: ThatDamnDuckAgain

Thanks for the clarification! I just didn't understand what you meant. Wasn't trying to suggest you were playing a game, I just didn't understand.

For my part, I've seen so much data on this corona virus thing I don't know what to make of it, honestly. I don't think I've ever seen, in my lifetime, numbers and statistics sliced and diced so many different ways as has been with this virus. I've come to the conclusion that people can make this thing appear just about any way they choose. Being fairly good at math and statistics the number of different ways this virus has been dissected is almost unimaginable...

- Deaths per confirmed
- Deaths per population
- Confirmed per population
- Tested per confirmed
- Confirmed by country
- Deaths by country
- Tested per population
- Deaths per total data set
- Survivors per confirmed
- Deaths by age group per confirmed
- Confirmed by geographic region by survival percentage
- Tested per patient
- Untested percent by geography
- Tested by income level / profession
- Recovery per tested
- Recovery per population
- Recovery per confirmed
- Death trend
- Confirmed trend
- Recovery trend
- Comparative trends to common flu by age group
- Comparative trends to other diseases by age, sex, race, creed, income group
- (and the list goes on, ad nauseum, for infinity!)

Yet despite all of this, no one seems to be able to say, definitively,...
- How it spreads
- What measures truly work to stop the spread
- Whether any measures taken so far can be proven to have been successful
- What the proper course of treatment is
- Whether the virus can be contracted again
- Etc.

I could go on, but I think you see the point.

Again, thanks for your clarification.