HOPEFULLY, we can see the light at the end of the coronavirus/Covid-19 tunnel; it’s perhaps topical to briefly compare it with 1918. 

This pandemic was called the Spanish flu, but not because it started in Spain. 

The First World War was still being fought in the spring of 1918, so the military censors on all sides kept quiet about it, believing it may be used against them. 

Spain, however, was a neutral country, and they were the first to send out details of the virus. For their trouble, the virus was named after them. 

The origin of the virus was believed to be among military personnel during spring, 1918, in America. 

It was an avian virus meaning it had spread from birds, mainly hens, to humans.

At the time, 1918, there was no national health service, just privately run hospitals and doctors surgeries. 

Not much was done regarding successful vaccines, and protection from infection was purely through masks and advice. 

Northwich Guardian:

At the start of the present Covid pandemic, as the threat of lockdowns loomed, there was a mad scramble to buy toilet paper. In 1918 it was Bovril; the company apologised to the nation for the shortage of Bovril, and the excuse was they could not get bottles to put it in due to the virus and the war closing the factories. 

Customers in possession of Bovril were asked not to buy anymore unless it was to go into parcels for troops at the front. 

Unlike with Covid, the age group to suffer most was the younger generation, and as a result, schools were closed. 

In Northwich, during December 1918, the doctors felt they had control of the pandemic, and it was on the wane. 

We now know this was slightly wrong as it was not under control until at least late 1919, and even then, there was evidence it went into 1920, although not as severely. 

However, it was thought a Nursing Guild should be set up with nurses able to visit sufferers in their homes to care for them. On the Urban Council’s instructions, a guild was set up by the clerk Mr J Arthur Cowley.

The new guild had premises in the old post office in Witton Street, with Miss Burgess as secretary. 

From there, the ladies commenced their daily tasks. The office contained a store where the nurses could obtain what they needed. Most of the requisites were provided by the Queen Mary’s Hospital Supply Guild.

The nursing volunteers numbered well over 100, and the Davenham Isolation Hospital took in some of those patients most in need. 

Northwich Guardian:

Goggles and masks were advised in hospitals when visiting patients and, in some cases, everywhere

As time went on, the number of people afflicted and dying of the virus grew exponentially, and by summer 1918, the pandemic’s virulence was becoming extremely serious. Goggles and masks were advised in hospitals when visiting patients and, in some cases, everywhere. 

On January 9, 1919, the Chester Asylum declared the pandemic had ceased and visitors were once again welcome, which was also a bit presumptive. 

A more lethal wave struck during August or September of 1918. This wave lasted for around seven months and, during it, pneumonia often developed quickly, with death following within two days. 

Social distancing measures were enforced, and the wave started to die down towards the end of November. 

In the meantime, not helped by the military living packed together and then returning to the UK, the virus spread here and worldwide. When social distancing was relaxed, a third less virulent wave began in the spring of 1919. 

By summer of that year, the virus had run its course both in the UK and the rest of the world. 

During this time, it is estimated one-third of the world’s population, about 500 million people, became infected, and 50 million died of it. More people died from the pandemic than died in the First World War and possibly the Second World War.

It was the worst pandemic since the Great Plague or Black Death. The H1N1 virus caused it with avian origin genes, and there was no vaccine or antibiotics at the time. 

Accordingly, the only way to stem the virus was by non-pharmaceutical means, social distancing, disinfectant, carbolic acid, masks and robust advice.

To compare the 1918 pandemic with our present Covid-19. So far in the UK, there have been around 126,000 deaths. 

The 1918 pandemic had 228,000 UK deaths. But in 1919, the population of the UK was around 35 million, and in 2011 it was 63,182 million and rising.