Xan wrote: ↑Sun Aug 09, 2020 9:14 pm
vnatale wrote: ↑Sun Aug 09, 2020 9:02 pm
pp4me wrote: ↑Sun Aug 09, 2020 12:53 pm
I thought the article linked below was an interesting take on COVID containing this interesting fact of which I was not aware.
In 1968, the Hong Kong Flu killed approximately 4 million people globally. Not only did we not shut down our economy in the face of that staggering number, but the three-day Woodstock Rock Festival in upstate New York was held in the midst of the epidemic.
1968 was one year after I graduated from high school and the year I was inducted into the Navy. I remember Woodstock very well but have absolutely no recollection of the Hong Kong Flu.
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/20 ... vid19.html
Woodstock was August, 1969 (the year I graduated). I also have zero memory of the Hong Kong Flu.
Vinny
I'm not sure what to make of this pandemic that nobody remembers. Was the media covering it up? Was it just not that serious? Is our media now sensationalizing the current pandemic?
Some facts from here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Kong_flu
I was 17, 18 years old at the time and quite aware of what was going on in the world around me as we received three newspapers a day, which I read. Again, have ZERO memory of it.
Vinny
Mortality
The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated that in total, the virus killed one million people worldwide[14] from its beginning in July 1968 until the outbreak faded during the winter of 1969–70.[15] The CDC estimated that about 34,000 to 100,000 people died in the U.S; most excess deaths were in those 65 and older.[16][17] However, fewer people died during this pandemic than in previous pandemics for several reasons:[14]
Some immunity against the N2 flu virus may have been retained in populations struck by the Asian Flu strains that had been circulating since 1957.
The pandemic did not gain momentum until near the winter school holidays, thus limiting the infection's spread.
Improved medical care gave vital support to the very ill.
The availability of antibiotics that were more effective against secondary bacterial infections.
For this pandemic, there were two geographically-distinct mortality patterns. In North America (the United States and Canada), the first pandemic season (1968/69) was more severe than the second (1969/70). In the "smoldering" pattern seen in Europe and Asia (United Kingdom, France, Japan, and Australia), the second pandemic season was two to five times more severe than the first.[18]