Spanish Flu Versus COVID-19: Which One Is The Worse?

In late December of 2019, a new form of coronavirus was discovered in the city of Wuhan in China. Since then, COVID-19 has infected over a hundred thousand people worldwide and claimed the lives of over four thousand people. While the majority of COVID-19 infection cases came from China, other countries have also experienced major outbreaks in recent weeks.

One case, for example, is Italy where coronavirus infection as of March 10 stands at over 10,000 cases with 631 deaths. This is followed by Iran with over 8,000 infections and 291 dying from the deadly disease. The next country with the most COVID-19 infections in South Korea with 7,513 cases and 58 deaths. With the rapid increase of new cases daily, scientists are now comparing it with the outbreak of another pandemic, considered one of the worst in human history, the Spanish Flu.

The Spanish Flu

The term Spanish Flu is a misnomer since it did not originate in Spain but in France. During that time, however, the first to report it was Spain, hence the name Spanish Flu. In-depth research identified the center and source of the Spanish flu as a hospital and major troop staging camp in Etaples in France.

It was, by far, one of the deadliest pandemics ever to beset mankind. Records indicate that the deadly influenza infected more than 25% of the global population in 1918, infecting more than 500 million people. Depending on whose estimates, some are claiming more than 17 million people died from Spanish Flu, while others put the numbers close to or a little over 100 million. Regardless of the estimated number of deaths, everyone agrees that it is one of the deadliest virus outbreaks ever in human history.

COVID-19 and Spanish Flu

There are some quarters right now that compare the COVID-19 outbreak with that of the Spanish Flu. At first look, everyone can immediately see that the fatality rate of COVID-19 is much lower compared to the Spanish Flu of 1918.

The early 20th-century pandemic has caused the deaths of anywhere between 17 million and 100 million people with as much as 500 million more infected with the virus. At present, scientific experts believe that the fatality rate of the COVID-19 virus is at one to three percent.

According to Health Secretary Matt Hancock, the very best mortality rate assessment of the Government is at two percent or lower. Reports say that of the 119,214 confirmed COVID-19 cases, 66,621 patients have already recovered from the deadly illness.

For the part of Jeremy Brown, the author of Influenza: The 100-Year Hunt to Cure the Deadliest Disease in History, the coronavirus outbreak will not be a second 1918. He wrote in the Atlantic that whatever happens next, COVID-19 will not become like the Spanish Flu pandemic.

Brown explained that unlike the Spanish Flu, scientists have determined at an early time that COVID-19 was caused by the coronavirus. Within a couple of weeks, they already sequenced the virus’ genome and found out that it likely came from animals, possibly bats.

This information, which was quickly published by a Chinese medical team, was immediately shared by the scientific community. This allowed research labs in various parts of the world to begin the long and painstaking method of understanding the virus and discovering a vaccine or cure. The author ended his statement with hope for the future saying that science may not have defeated the enemy yet but scientists definitely know a great deal about it.