In a recent article for The Atlantic, writer Ed Yong stated that a global pandemic of the scale we’re experiencing was inevitable and that many health experts had been predicting it. He said the health crisis has already imprinted itself upon the nation’s psyche, much like World War II and the 9/11 attacks did.

Before the current COVID-19, however, no pandemic impacted American life more than the Spanish flu outbreak of World War I. Scientists now estimate that the number of deaths worldwide may have reached 100 million. The Purple Death, which is what it was first called, killed an estimated 675,000 in our country in one year, more deaths than U.S. soldiers suffered while fighting in World War I, World War II, the Korean War and Vietnam War COMBINED!

In his excellent book, “More Deadly Than War,” author Kenneth C. Davis tells how the Spanish flu made heroes of countless everyday people, much like the selfless dedication we’re seeing today from the medical care providers working in hospitals to the volunteers in all other service areas.

With America’s involvement in World War I, the government focused most of its attention on the European battlefront. That left the nation with a pressing need for doctors and nurses to deal with the epidemic ravaging our home front. An emergency fund of $1 million dollars - a big number at the time - was authorized to help fight the epidemic, but that still left local communities to manage on their own.

Just like today, densely populated New York City was at the epicenter of the outbreak. Despite the city’s world class medical facilities and strict measures, NYC still suffered more than 30,000 deaths from that epidemic.

Social distancing was not nearly as strict as today. A headline in the New York Sun headline on Aug. 17, 1918, stated: “If you must kiss, kiss via kerchief.”

Ships entering New York’s busy port were quarantined until they could be declared disease free. Anyone showing signs of flu were banned from public transportation while the filthy habit of spitting in public was made illegal and subject to $1 fines. City schools remained open, but some parents resorted to homeopathic remedies, such as having their children wear garlands of garlic cloves around their necks.

Because of the war, parades to promote war bonds were a priority in big cities, trumping the warnings about big gatherings. A 1918 parade in Boston attracted thousands of workers, causing a major outbreak. In Philadelphia, more than 200,000 marched in a war bond drive and in just a few weeks, the city’s death rate soared to over 7,000.

The mask, which was thought to be effective in slowing the spread of the flu, was one of the most recognized items during the 1918 outbreak. Many cities required their police officers, streetcar conductors, postal carriers and even professional baseball players to wear them. Parents in big cities made their children wear cheesecloth masks, thinking they would offer protection.

In Philadelphia and other cities a rhyme promoted and reminded people of the mask ordinance:

Obey the laws,

And wear the gauze

Protect your jaws

From Septic Paws.

Today’s modern masks are designed for different purposes and only some can guard against infectious diseases. A flimsy painter’s mask, for example, won’t stop a virus.

Surgical masks, however, are of great value to health care workers. Doctors treating patients for the COVID-19 disease wear a type of mask called a N95 respirator. It’s designed to keep fluids or germs from the doctor from contaminating the sterile operating room, but even that mask isn’t 100 percent virus-proof to the wearer.

In 1905, philosopher George Santayana stated that “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

When the present health crisis began, our president declared a National Day of Prayer. The combination of America’s faith and science communities is crucial in preventing this invisible enemy from turning into the kind of deadly scourge that plagued the world a century ago.

By Jim Zbick | tneditor@tnonline.com