Is history repeating itself: Omicron's wave is like the flu pandemic in 1918, even at that time masks and lockdown were necessary....

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

Carelessness was seen even in 1918-  People had shown their negligence at that time also. In an article published in The Washington Post, Mr. Nichols wrote that the flu that occurred in February 1918, caused the First World War-like situation and spread from America to the whole world. It was also a viral disease that spread by air. And the rate of spreadability was very high. It took only 6 months for its infection to spread worldwide. However, like Omicron, this flu had a low mortality rate. 

Some of the flu symptoms were very similar to those of the corona mutant  'Omicron'. People used to have colds and fever in them. Even then, by showing carelessness, people took it as a fever that lasted for 3 days. According to Mr. Nichols, in October 1918, a dangerous variant of this flu had arrived, which killed about 2.0 lakhs 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. 

There was a lockdown-like situation even during the year 1918 flu pandemic. Governments closed movie theatres, pools, and other public places even in the year1918 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. 

Scientists had tried to make a vaccine a century ago but failed, unfortunately:    Mr. 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 to fight against the coronavirus and its variants. According to his opinion, Corona will never end like the flu spread in 1918 and still among us but in the weak conditions. Mr. Nichols believes that just as the flu virus is still present in the environment, in the same way, the coronavirus is not going anywhere. After a time corona will also become a normal virus for us like flu.

So, it would be better to avoid carelessness and follow all the precautionary measures as provided by the health department from time to time and wear proper facemasks, sanitize your things, wash your hands properly, make appropriate distances avoid gathering and better to stay home and if, really need to go out, then only go with proper protocols. This is also a kind of help to the Government to control the spreading of the disease and fight against the corona.

Stay home, stay healthy, stay safe...