Perhaps reading books can absorb our time not spent in bars and restaurants.
My pick for this week:
The Great Influenza
The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History
John M. Barry
Penguin Books, 2004/2005
Majestic ,spellbinding treatment of a mass killer…the author follows the disease…as if from Weegee’s camera —Kirkus Reviews
Yes, the parallels startle.
– The jump from animals (pigs in Kansas) to people escaped notice for longer than it should.
– The first major infected population spread the disease far and wide at breakneck speed.
– Governments – especially America’s – bungled the early response.
– Many of those researching and fighting the disease perished or suffered.
– Working folks took the biggest financial hit.
True, as the book explains, a pandemic almost by definition is never expected. The response always begins ad hoc as bits of the story pop-up – along with a lot of red herrings and confusion.
Yet, the overall situation mimics past events. Instead of remembering what had been learned, alas, a thousand wrong decisions recreate the same mistakes.
For example, the “Spanish Flu” got legs because train loads of American soldiers in Kansas got loaded on trains and shipped east, eventually to Europe. Many where sick when forced on to the trains. Army middle management worried about delivering their charges on-time, ignoring possible problems and showing no compassion towards the sick.
As the disease spread European governments, some very quickly, stepped into action. America’s response…
In the United States, no government, institution, or philanthropist even began to approach a similar level of support.
The disease became known as the Spanish Flu “very likely because only Spanish newspapers were publishing accounts of the spread of the disease that were picked up in other countries.” Spain stayed out of The Great War, meaning their newspapers weren’t subject to censorship, especially about a disease savaging the troops. In other words, those in power worried more about appearances than health.
Notice a trend?
To this day the United States lacks a requirement that employers provide paid sick leave. In fact, I’ve heard of several major employers who terminate employees for missing even a short stretch of days, no matter why the employees’ aren’t at work. Plus – as Sunday’s New York Times editorial chart showed – a major portion of Americans have jobs which lack access to health insurance! That working mom preparing your Quarter Pounder may have two really, really sick kids at home (and she’s sniffling herself).
Speaking of working folks, the Spanish Flu damaged many families’ finances for years. It took the great economic boom of the 1920’s to restore many households to stability.
My favorite waitress is a working mom with two school age kids. She’s been at the same restaurant for 17 years, and, part of her job ought to be considered management. I expect her employer to be ordered to either close its door or go to pick-up only, dramatically reducing the need for waitresses and decimating tip income. Under the current announced plans she might get $120 a week in unemployment. And, this being Missouri, time limits on unemployment could expire before all of her household is well and she’s back at work.
Amazing how 2020 seems just like 1920.
Glenn Koenen