topic Re: Spanish Flu Pandemic in Community Chat

Spanish Flu Pandemic

Marp — Wed, 29 Apr 2020 16:11:36 GMT

The Spanish flu was most virulent between 1918 and 1920. I don't know why but recently whenever I hear anything about the Spanish flu it strikes me that my grandmother would have been 13 when it started. My dad would have been two.

Kind of moves the Spanish flu pandemic from history to relatable.

Re: Spanish Flu Pandemic

Lipstickdiva — Wed, 29 Apr 2020 16:19:19 GMT

As an aside, I didn't realize until recently that the Spanish Flu didn't start in Spain either. It began in China.

Re: Spanish Flu Pandemic

Goldenmoher — Wed, 29 Apr 2020 16:22:20 GMT

My grandmother died in the Spanish flu epidemic. She was in her 30's and pregnant with her 4th child who was stillborn. My mother was 6 and had 2 younger brothers. I have thought of her a lot during the pandemic.

Re: Spanish Flu Pandemic

millieshops — Wed, 29 Apr 2020 16:26:06 GMT

@Marpnever even thought about it before, but my parents didn't even know each other yet in 2018. My father was 18, my mother 13 - they lived in different towns. Cars? Who had a car in 2018?

Re: Spanish Flu Pandemic

Allegheny — Wed, 29 Apr 2020 16:32:00 GMT

A few years back when my husband was researching his family's genealogy we visited some very old cemetaries. It was noticeable the number of deaths during those years, particularly among very young children.

I have read that one third of the worlds' population were infected with the Spanish Flu with 20 to 50 million deaths. Just horrible.

Re: Spanish Flu Pandemic

Diva on The Q — Wed, 29 Apr 2020 16:33:18 GMT

@millieshops wrote:
@Marpnever even thought about it before, but my parents didn't even know each other yet in 2018. My father was 18, my mother 13 - they lived in different towns. Cars? Who had a car in 2018?

@millieshops: I'm sure you mean 1918 (???)

Re: Spanish Flu Pandemic

millieshops — Wed, 29 Apr 2020 16:36:29 GMT

@Diva on The Qlol of course I did! Thank you for letting me laugh at myself.

That's what I get for using Spellcheck instead of doing my own proofreading.

Re: Spanish Flu Pandemic

Diva on The Q — Wed, 29 Apr 2020 16:41:30 GMT

@millieshops wrote:
@Diva on The Qlol of course I did! Thank you for letting me laugh at myself.

That's what I get for using Spellcheck instead of doing my own proofreading.

@millieshops:

Re: Spanish Flu Pandemic

Nightowlz — Wed, 29 Apr 2020 16:53:46 GMT

@millieshops wrote:
@Diva on The Qlol of course I did! Thank you for letting me laugh at myself.

That's what I get for using Spellcheck instead of doing my own proofreading.
@millieshops

LOL!!! I knew you meant 1918.

Re: Spanish Flu Pandemic

Porcelain — Wed, 29 Apr 2020 16:55:59 GMT

@millieshops wrote:
@Marpnever even thought about it before, but my parents didn't even know each other yet in 2018. My father was 18, my mother 13 - they lived in different towns. Cars? Who had a car in 2018?

We finally meet someone who actually was born yesterday!

(I'm only kidding and have made this same mistake myself and more quite often.)

Re: Spanish Flu Pandemic

Puppy Lips — Wed, 29 Apr 2020 16:57:03 GMT

@Lipstickdiva wrote:
As an aside, I didn't realize until recently that the Spanish Flu didn't start in Spain either. It began in China.

I am not sure that it was proven to start in China, but it certainly has been suggested. But be wary of making such statements on this forum. I made that point in another thread yesterday, about the Spainish flu possibly starting in China, and the whole thread was deleted. Some posters here will claim that it is a "racist" statement, to say the Covid -19 or the Spanish flu started in China. Of course that is complete nonsense. Facts are facts.

Re: Spanish Flu Pandemic

Imaoldhippie — Wed, 29 Apr 2020 17:09:50 GMT

I saw a documentary last week that in the US the Spanish flu started on a farm in western Kansas. The young man living on the farm joined the Army to fight in WWI. He infected hundreds in base camp and it spread from there. The soldiers took it to Europe. The speaker said it should have been called the American Flu since it started here.

Re: Spanish Flu Pandemic

Sushismom — Wed, 29 Apr 2020 17:13:50 GMT

From what I've read, the 1918 flu may have started in the U.K., the United States, China, or a couple of other places. None have been proven. NONE.

A 2018 study of tissue slides and medical reports led by evolutionary biology professor Michael Worobey found evidence against the disease originating from Kansas, as those cases were milder and had fewer deaths compared to the infections in New York City in the same time period. The study did find evidence through phylogenetic analyses that the virus likely had a North American origin, though it was not conclusive. (Wikipedia)

My father would have been 8 when this happened. My dad and his siblings lived in Texas; none of them were affected. It is sad that an estimated 50 MILLION died of this. We're nowhere close to that number with COVID-19.

Re: Spanish Flu Pandemic

Lucky Charm — Sun, 03 May 2020 17:53:25 GMT

The entire side of my dad's family (maternal and paternal) lived in Philadelphia, which was hit very hard during the Spanish Flu pandemic.

No one from my family died, but my great grandmother was pregnant with my great, great uncle and she had it.

If you look at death certicates from that time period, the cause of death usually said 'influenze or pneumonia'.

September 1918 was the start of a really bad time for Philly and even though it was close to the end of WWI, my great grandfather, his brothers and cousins were registering for the war.

Most of the registrations were filled out on Sept. 12th, I noticed.

So I imagine crowded registration offices, people standing in line and being examined. This was the form that gave height, weight, eye color, etc.

It's hard to believe that more family members weren't affected by it as two and three generations lived together under one roof.

Re: Spanish Flu Pandemic

suzyQ3 — Wed, 29 Apr 2020 17:49:45 GMT

@Lipstickdiva wrote:
As an aside, I didn't realize until recently that the Spanish Flu didn't start in Spain either. It began in China.

@Lipstickdiva, my research suggests that they really don't know the place of origin. There are at least three or four contenders.

Re: Spanish Flu Pandemic

suzyQ3 — Wed, 29 Apr 2020 17:52:38 GMT

@Puppy Lips wrote:
@Lipstickdiva wrote:
As an aside, I didn't realize until recently that the Spanish Flu didn't start in Spain either. It began in China.
I am not sure that it was proven to start in China, but it certainly has been suggested. But be wary of making such statements on this forum. I made that point in another thread yesterday, about the Spainish flu possibly starting in China, and the whole thread was deleted. Some posters here will claim that it is a "racist" statement, to say the Covid -19 or the Spanish flu started in China. Of course that is complete nonsense. Facts are facts.

I won't let this stand as written, @Puppy Lips. Either you are dissembling or you truly didn't understand the criticism.

Context is key.

Re: Spanish Flu Pandemic

Bhvbum — Wed, 29 Apr 2020 18:01:20 GMT

My grandfather died in 1918 of the flu epidemic at age 32. It was always an important event in our family and everytime there has been one of these types of outbreaks, I have been over-focused on what is going on.

I was stocking up in mid February for this very Pandemic because of our family history.

Re: Spanish Flu Pandemic

Puppy Lips — Wed, 29 Apr 2020 18:03:40 GMT

@suzyQ3 wrote:
@Puppy Lips wrote:
@Lipstickdiva wrote:
As an aside, I didn't realize until recently that the Spanish Flu didn't start in Spain either. It began in China.
I am not sure that it was proven to start in China, but it certainly has been suggested. But be wary of making such statements on this forum. I made that point in another thread yesterday, about the Spainish flu possibly starting in China, and the whole thread was deleted. Some posters here will claim that it is a "racist" statement, to say the Covid -19 or the Spanish flu started in China. Of course that is complete nonsense. Facts are facts.
I won't let this stand as written, @Puppy Lips. Either you are dissembling or you truly didn't understand the criticism.

Context is key.

@suzyQ3 I think it is you who do not understand the difference between a fact and an opinion. But I don't want this thread to get deleted so I will not engage in any more conversations with you over this topic as we clearly disagree.

Re: Spanish Flu Pandemic

goldensrbest — Wed, 29 Apr 2020 18:16:40 GMT

@millieshops wrote:
@Marpnever even thought about it before, but my parents didn't even know each other yet in 2018. My father was 18, my mother 13 - they lived in different towns. Cars? Who had a car in 2018?

I think you got the date wrong!! There was a thread on here about this ,very interesting.

Re: Spanish Flu Pandemic

Patriot3 — Wed, 29 Apr 2020 18:52:59 GMT

@Goldenmoher wrote:
My grandmother died in the Spanish flu epidemic. She was in her 30's and pregnant with her 4th child who was stillborn. My mother was 6 and had 2 younger brothers. I have thought of her a lot during the pandemic.

@Goldenmoher I think of my Mom, too. She was born in 1912 and we talked about it thru the years. She could remember and said how scared and careful they were. Luckily they all survived it..........10 kids and parents. And also, she lived to be 92.

Your Mom's family had to be devastated! How sad.