Hey guys,
I thought that a similar report concerning the 1918 H1N1 'Spanish' flu pandemic might be interesting as a comparison to today's pandemic.
US report, 1918-1919***
cases ~25,500,000, recovered ?, hospitalized ?, deaths 555,000+, tested 0*
fatality rate 2.2%
mortality rate 5,388+ per million**
tests rate 0 per thousand*
*Test kits did not exist in 1918-1919.
**The US population was ~103,000,000 in 1918.
*** There were 3 waves, the first beginning in March 1918, the second in the fall of 1918, and the third in early-1919 - the third wave was relatively mild in the US.
Incidentally, the 'Spanish' flu did not originate in Spain. The first cases did not appear in Spain until [May 1918, two months]* after the first forensically confirmed cases of H1N1 in the US. The pandemic, however, is not considered to have begun in Spain until November 1918.*
It is possible (probable?) that the H1N1 virus responsible for the epidemic/pandemic originated in the US in the east coast region of New York, and was transported initially to military bases in the US and overseas via our soldiers sent to fight in WWI. In the 1800s and early-1900s the pigeon (aka squab) was routinely hunted (by the hundreds of millions, thus endeth the Passenger Pigeon) and eaten in restaurants on the east coast, as commonly as chicken is today. Pigeons for food were also raised in the same manner as chickens, with the advantage that the pigeon took up less space and resources and was therefor easier to raise in big cities. Humans were in close proximity and contact at a large scale, ideal for transmission of an inter-species virus (sound familiar?).
The first officially US recorded cases in Europe occurred in the early-summer of 1918, when doctors, accompanying reinforcements for the AEF, noted AEF soldiers displaying the symptoms onboard ship before arrival at Brest. The close confines of the troopships were a perfect place to spread the disease quickly (sound familiar?) among the soldiers.
Although the first cases were recorded in early-1918, the worldwide pandemic was not considered to have begun until late-summer to early-fall of 1918.
* My edit to reflect better information, it originally said "November 1918, eight months". And I added "The pandemic, however, is not considered to have begun in Spain until November 1918."