At the time of this writing, April, 2020, the world has been invaded by a virus, COVID-19. Except for obtaining essentials such as groceries, we are sequestered to our houses.
This virus was first discovered in China and thought to have mutated from a virus infecting bats. Now at a stage where it can infect and spread rapidly among humans, it causes flu-like symptoms, sometimes violent, sometimes death. It is too early to tell just how serious this thing is, but the outlook is not encouraging.
Because of the past history of these types of pandemics, people are quite scared and doing irrational things, such as panic-buying of food and other products. It is not unusual to go into a store and be faced with rows of empty shelves. This is reminiscent of World War II days (See previous post). However, the causes of the shortages are different. During WWII, products were not available because they were being used in the war effort. Now there is plenty of product but it is apparently being scarfed up and hoarded by people in panic mode as soon as it hits the shelves.
One such item is toilet paper. It is almost impossible to find even though it normally fills up long aisles of shelving. It is difficult to believe, but people are actually getting violent over toilet paper! (see the link at the end).
All schools and colleges are closed, as are factories, bars, and churches. People are encouraged to work from home if possible. Grocery stores, gas stations, and businesses deemed necessary remain open. Restaurants are open only for takeout orders – no sit down customers. People are advised to stay at least 6 feet apart. Hand washing is encouraged – hand shaking is not.
Face masks are commonly seen – some of them quite unusual and creative.
This guy was seen shopping in a Columbus area store
For weeks the federal government ignored this virus and expressed confidence that it would soon disappear, so very little was done in the way of preparation. Fortunately at the state level most governors saw the situation for what it was and formed an appropriate plan of action. Later as people started getting sick and dying, attitudes at the federal level changed somewhat, but we still get most of our leadership from the state house.
We have no idea how long this shut-down will last. It has the potential of causing huge economic problems since many people can no longer earn a living.
The previous serious influenza pandemic was the so-called Spanish Flu of 1918. This one infected an estimated 500 million victims (one-third of the earth’s population) and killed an estimated 50 million. Because of World War I and the mass deployment of soldiers, this virus rapidly spread throughout the world.
Spanish Flu was mistakenly thought to be caused by bacteria since viruses were unknown at the time. They were not discovered until the electron microscope was invented in 1931.
According to my mother who would have been 14 at the time, many people thought this was the end of the world. Wooden coffins lined the streets and were in short supply. Undertakers could not keep up with the deaths. Mass graves were not uncommon. People didn’t know how to fight this disease so various techniques were tried. Mom and her siblings were made to wear “asafidity bags” around their necks and inhale the putrid fumes. Rooms containing sick people had wet sheets hung over the doorway and on the windows to keep the disease from spreading.
I looked up “asifidity bag” and found that it was a small cloth bag with a drawstring top that previously held Bull Durham tobacco. It contained asafoetida and other aromatic herbs such as camphor and garlic. Asafoetida is a resinous gum obtained from the roots of the Ferula plant, a member of the fennel family. It is used in folk medicine and Indian cooking, has an extremely foul smell and is sometimes called “devil’s dung”. It was thought to repel influenza germs and evil spirits. Mom said that it smelled so foul that no one would get close enough to give you any germs. Dad said, “if you put one on the baby you could find it in the dark”.
Bull Durham Tobacco Bag
Tom Gregory sent me a copy of an article from the local Ravenna newspaper dated October 14, 1918:
Except for the date, this article could have been in last week’s paper. It appears that the way we deal with pandemics hasn’t changed much in the last 100 years.
Those of us over 70 remember a similar horror show. From about 1916 to 1955 we had the Polio scourge. Also known as Infantile Paralysis, this virus attacked mostly young people. A child would go to bed at night appearing to be perfectly healthy and the following morning wake up paralyzed. It attacked the nervous system – arms, legs, and other muscles would no longer function.
Some children ended up spending their lives in iron lungs. These were large, barrel-shaped devices that completely enclosed the body except for the head. Pressure was increased and decreased inside, causing the patient’s lungs to fill up and empty, thus doing the work of the paralyzed diaphragm.
Iron Lungs
Polio would appear each year around Memorial day and wreck havoc throughout the summer.
Parents were terrified. We were not allowed to visit our friends. Swimming was forbidden because Polio was thought to be spread in swimming pools. This situation occurred like clockwork every year until 1955 when a team of scientists led by Dr. Jonas Salk invented a vaccine that caused immunity to the virus.
One of my class mates was afflicted by Polio. He was absent from class for about 2 months and returned later on crutches with iron braces on his paralyzed leg. He later learned to walk unaided. In high school he was on the basketball team. His left leg was noticeably smaller than his right.
President Franklin Roosevelt was a victim of the Polio virus. He had iron braces on his legs and was in a wheel chair most of his life. He stood up when being photographed at speaking events – bracing himself on two hand rails. The press never photographed him sitting in a wheel chair. Because of this, most Americans, including me, were unaware of his affliction.
There have appeared several other viruses that had potential of causing a pandemic – Swine Flu, SARS, AIDS, to name a few. Although these killed many people they did not quite rise to the pandemic level we are now experiencing.
In spite of our so-called intelligence and advanced medical techniques, we still appear to be at the mercy of Darwin and the sub-microscopic bit of DNA called virus.
Here are more newspaper clippings from the 1918 pandemic.
See toilet paper fights here.