Is History Repeating Itself?: Omicron Wave Like the 1918 Flu Pandemic, Masks and Lockdown were Necessary at That Time

According to researcher Christopher McKnight Nichols of Oregon State University in the US, the wave from the Omicron variant in the world is very similar to the 1918 flu pandemic. Even a century ago, people used to come out of the house wearing masks and today the same is being seen even after a century. According to Nichols, the 1918 flu, like Omicron, was the first to hit young and healthy people.

In 1918 also people showed negligence

In an article published in The Washington Post, Nichols wrote that the flu that occurred in February 1918 caused the First World War to spread from America to the whole world. It was also a disease spread by air. It took only 6 months for its infection to spread worldwide. However, like Omicron, this flu had a low mortality rate.

The flu, which came in 1918 due to the First World War, spread from America to the whole world.

Some of the flu symptoms were similar to those of Omicron. People used to have cold and fever in it. Even then, by showing carelessness, people took it as a fever that lasted for 3 days.

According to Nichols, in October 1918, a dangerous variant of this flu had arrived, which killed 2 lakh people in a month in America. By 1919, the flu cases and death rates had decreased. In total, 50 million people died due to flu epidemics around the world.

In total, 50 million people died due to flu epidemics around the world.

Lockdown-like situation was created even during the 1918 flu pandemic

Governments closed movie theatres, pools and other public places even in the 1918 flu pandemic due to people’s carelessness. It was necessary for people to wear masks outside the house. People were put in jail for not wearing masks. It was also common to follow isolation and social distancing when infected with the flu.

Even in 1918, it became necessary for people to wear masks outside the house.

A century ago, scientists tried to make a vaccine, failed

Nichols says that scientists had tried a lot to make a vaccine for the flu in 1918, but at that time they were not successful. Therefore, it is very important to use whatever vaccines and booster doses are available against us.

Just as the flu virus is still present in the environment, in the same way, the corona virus is also not going anywhere.

Corona will never end like flu

Nichols believes that just as the flu virus is still present in the environment, in the same way the corona virus is not going anywhere. After a time corona will also become a normal virus for us like flu.