Spanish Flu of 1918 vs. Covid-19 of 2020

The Spanish Influenza swept around the world with the lightning speed with which we now observe Covid-19. It was 1918 and the First World War was winding down. In Canada, the Spanish Flu killed some 55,000 Canadians by the time the pandemic ended in 1920.

Canada quickly became a Covid-19 victim, likely spread initially by Patient Zero in Wuhan, China. Because Canada enjoys a favored nation status, Chinese nationals are permitted to travel to Canada and enjoy the scenery and visit relatives.

There was no television in 1918. No internet either. Radio was not yet the familiar entertainment box it would soon become. Newspapers were the king of media and how most folks received news. And the news in 1918 was grim.

As the numbers of dead were being finalized for Canada’s involvement in World War One, the numbers began trickling in of dead due to the Spanish Flu. Approximately 61,000 soldiers killed during the Great War. By the end of 1920, Canada would count 55,000 people dead due to the Spanish Flu. Canada’s population in 1918 was 8.2 million, so losing 116,000 of its citizens represented a significant portion of her being.

A new normal had arrived for Canadians. And today, a newer normal takes its place with Covid-19 already challenging the Spanish Flu numbers for supremacy.

Computer generated models for Covid-19 appear to show that late May 2020 will deliver the highest number of infected persons, along with high rates of deaths, up to 44,000. If Covid-19 continues on such a trajectory of death, it will surpass the Spanish Flu in infections and deaths in Canada within the first several weeks of the pandemic.

Today, Canada’s population stands at around 38 million. Percentage-wise, Covid-19 is projected to take a bigger chunk out of Canada’s population initially, with accumulated losses to rally that portion even higher.

One sombre attribute to both the Spanish flue of 1918 and Covid-19 of 2020 is that they both absolutely paralyzed the Canadian economy.

Rationing in a Digital Age

With little warning, and so many people ignoring and dismissing tales of the coming Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, one area that was tested, and continues to feel the impact, is our food security.

Supermarket shelves lay half bare and store management is limiting quantities for purchase of some items. Another word for this, despite government’s reluctance to use it, is rationing.

It is difficult to treat food security as a priority when, living in a relatively wealthy nation, I am afforded the luxury of throwing food away, shunning leftovers, and being able to choose when I eat. Others, in fact most of the world’s human inhabitants, do not share in the bounty I feel privileged to consume.

With the Covid-19 pandemic bringing the world’s economies to their respective knees, rationing of key staples in food, fuel, and other commodities, as experienced during the world war years, will become a certainty. It will be followed by mass unemployment, homelessness, and civil unrest. It will happen sporadically in Canada and United States, perhaps even much of the European Union. New laws designed to limit your freedoms will be enacted in secret and without parliamentary debate. Poor people will be made into criminals by the state.

The trickle will begin in the poorer countries of the world who are unable to withstand the punishing effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. What happens there is a template for repetition in neighboring countries, with a ripple-like tide washing over the planet.

We have seen major architypes throughout history where monarchs, governments, and corporations have been toppled. When people are unable to feed their families, they tend to get a tad antsy. Not the kind of people you need working against you. Passion is a great motivator. So is hunger. And fear.

In today’s world of instant gratification, no amount of coding, no amount of texting, and no amount of consumerism will ensure we have available, and can afford, a loaf of bread for feeding one’s family.

Plant a garden, even ever so small.