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SOLEDAD: IT’S NOT A RERDCO WAEDNT TO BREAK. -- SOLEDAD: IT’S NOT A RECORD ANYONE WANTED TO BREAK. THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC IS NOW THE DEADLIEST DISEASE OUTBREAK IN OUR NATION’S HISTORY. THE COVID-19 DEATH TOLL IN THE U.S. IS CLOSING IN ON 700,000 -- SURPASSING 675,000 DEATHS FROM THE 191FL8 U. IN MAY OF 2020, WE AIRED A STORY ABOUT THE HISTORY OF THE 1918 PANDEMIC. WE WERE LOOKING FOR LESSONS TO GUIDE US THROUGH THESE TIMES. FEW OF US IMAGINED THIS PANDEMIC WOULD TAKE A TOLL SO GREAT THAT HISTORY BOOKS WOULD NEED TO BE REWRITTEN. HERE’ANS EXCERPT FROM THAT STORY BY SPECIAL CONTRIBUTOR JOIE CHEN. >> THE YEAR WAS 1918. THE WORLD WAS AT W.AR >> THE UNITED STATES HAD STAYED OUT OF THE FIGHT FOR THREE YEARS. BUT IN APRIL, 1917, THEY DECIDED TO DECLARE WAR ON GERMANY. WE HAD ALMOST NO ARMY AT THE TIME, A VERY SMALL NAVY. SO EVERYTHING HAD TO BE STARTED FROM SCRATCH. >> THE BUILD-UP TOOK ABOUT A YEAR. AND AMERICA’S YOUNG SOLDIERS WERE READY AT THE VERY MOMENT, SPNGRI OF 1918, WHEN ANOTHER ENEMY ARRIVED, THE FLU. >> THIS FLU STRUCK SUDDENLY, IT STRUCK WITHOUT WARNING, AND IT WAS LIKE NOTHING THAT ANYONE HAD EVER SEEN BEFO.RE IT WAS KILLING HEALTHY, YOUNG FARM BOYS AT A REMARKABLE RATE. THEY WERE TURNING BLUE, LITERALLY DYING WITHIN HOURS, SOMETIMES IN DAYS. >> BUT AMERICA WAS FOCUSED ON GETTING THE DOUGH BOYS TO EUROPE, WITH PREDICTABLE CONSEQUENCES. >> THOSE TROOP TRANSPORTS WERE DISEASE CARRIERS. THEY WERE, LIKE, HOTBEDS OF INFECTION. AND SOMEONE CALLED THEM FLOATING COFFINS. >> THE FLU HAD ALREADY GEON GLOBAL, BUT NEUTRAL SPAIN GOT THE BLAME. >> THE FIRST REAL PUBLISHED REPORT IN EUROPE OF AN EPIDEMIC COMES OUT IN MADRID. AND ALMOST INSTANTLY, IT BECOMES OWKNN VERY WIDELY AS THE SPANISH FLU. IT CERTAINLY DID NOT START THERE. >> THE FLU DEATHS SLOWED BY SUMMER, BUT THEN, A KIND OF PATRIOTIC FEVER REIGNITED THE PANDEMIC. PHILADELPHIA LEARSDE PLANNED A HUGE LIBERTY LOAN PARADE. DESPITE DOCTORS URGING A HALT, THE HEALTH COMMISSIONER LET THE MARCH GO ON. >> 200,000 PEOPLE CROWDED THE STREETS OF PHILADELPA.HI WITHIN TWOAY DS OF THAT PARADE, EVERY HOSPITAL BED IN PHILADELPHIA WAS FILLED. IT WAS AN EXTRAORDINARY OUTBSTUR OF DEATH. AN OUTBREAK OF DEATH. >> OTHER CITIES WERE BETTER AT SOCIAL DISTANCING, AT LEAST FOR A TIME. BUT IN JUST ONE YEAR, THE FLU CLAIMED SOME 675,000 AMERICAN LIS.VE AND SOWHMEERE BETWEEN 50 AND 100 MILLION WORLDWIDE. >> WE ARE STILL UNCOVERING EVIDENCE OF HOW FAR AND HOW TERRIBLE THE PLAGUE OF 1918 S.WA >> DAVIS IS QUICK TO SAY THE 1918 FLU ISN’T EXACTLY LIKE COVID-19. STILL, HE SEES WARNING SIG.NS >> THIS DID NOT GO AWAY, WHEN FLU SEASON WAS OVER IN THE SPRINGTIME OR THE SUMMERTI.ME IT CAME BACK IN SEPTEMBER, MORE VIRULENT, MORE VIOLENT, MORE LETHAL. THAN IT WAS IN THE FIRST ROUND. THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TOOK A VERY HANDS OFF APPROACH ABOUT THE NDPAEMIC. THEY ALSO WERE NOT HONEST. AND MANY LOCAL OFFICIALS WERE NOT HONE.ST TIME AND TIME AGAIN, YOU SAW LOCAL OFFICIALS SAY, "IT’S JUST THE FLU." AND IT WASN’T JUST THE FLUIT, WAS SOMETHING MUCH, MUCH WORSE. -- SOLEDAD: THIS PAST WEEK IN THE U.S., WE’VE LOST AN AVERAGE OF 2200 LIVES PER DAY TO COVID-19. MANY FEAR WE COULD RETURN TO THE PEAK NUMBERS OF THE PANDEMIC WHEN 3300 LIVES WERE LOST PER Y.DA DR. HOWARD MARKEL IS A PHYSICIAN AND MEDICAL HISTORIAN AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIG.AN THANK YOU FOR TALKING WITH ME. TAKE US BACK TO THE LAST PANDEMIC, THE SPANISH FLU,HA W SAVED LIVES THEN? WHAT WORKED? >> WELL, WHAT WE FOUND SAVE LIVES IN A PRE-VACCINE AND PRE-ANTIBIOTIC ERA WAS THAT THOSE CITIES THAT LAYERED THEIR RESPONSES, YOU KNOW, THE QUANARTINES AND PUBLIC GATHERING BANS DID THEM EARLY CABEUSOFE THE DISEASE’S SPREAD. THEY HAD FAR FEWER CASES AND DEATHS THAN THOSE CITI TESHAT DID NOT. AND WE FOUND THAT AGAIN THAT SOCIAL DISTANCING MEASURES PROBABLY SAVED MILONLIS AND MILLIONS OF LIVES FROM COVID LAST YEAR. BUT OF COURSE, IT’S A DRASTIC MEASURE. AS WE ALL KNOW NOW, THE WORLD HAS NEVER STOPPED FOR AS LONG AS IT STOPPED DURING THIS PAST PANDEMIC. BUT NOW, WHAT’S GREAT ABOUT LIVING IN THE 21ST CENTURY IS THAT SCIENTISTS HAVE DEVOPEDEL SEVERAL SAFE AND EFFECTIVE VACCINES THAT WILL COMPLETELY PREVENT THIS INFECONTI SO THAT’S WHAT I WANT TO ARTICULATE, IS THAT THERE’S A SAFE WAY OUT OF TH.IS SOLEDAD: DR. HOWARD MARKEL AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIG