Social distancing: A lesson learned from history

As a student of history, I often wonder what we have learned from historic events in our world.

I personally don’t believe history truly repeats itself, but that doesn’t mean there are not parallels.

I tend to lean more toward a phrase Mark Twain has been credited for saying: “history doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.” With that in mind, I spent time looking back at what our area experienced in 1918 during the influenza pandemic.

I began looking through local history books and was surprised to find very little pertaining to the flu outbreak. Local newspapers had a few stories here and there about certain relatives coming to Davenport to take care of their loved ones suffering from the flu (yes the world survived just fine before HIPPA), but there was not as much information as I thought.

I expanded my search a bit and came across articles about quarantines and bans on social gatherings. Does any of this sound familiar?

I found information specific to Odessa, which showed more than 300 residents affected with the deadly flu at its peak.

Schools nationwide were shut down in December of 1918 and many remained closed throughout the school year.

According to the book, “Lincoln County a Lasting Legacy” the county commissioners banned public meetings, churches, fraternal and social organizations for a period of two months.

A search of nearby areas shows restaurants, buses, and other businesses being shut down for months with funerals restricted to immediate family only.

The ban in Lincoln County was lifted in January of 1919, but the flu was not done.

An article in the Seattle Star dated Jan. 11, 1919, stated, “In Davenport the situation has grown worse since removal of the ban on January 1st.”

Many bans in our area had to be reactivated. An early Colville newspaper during that period stated residents were obeying the quarantine “cheerfully,” while noting that children were becoming restless.

While I have a hard time believing that people were really feeling “cheerful” about their situation in 1918, I do think they handled it better than we are today for a couple of reasons.

The “Spanish flu” in 1918 infected at least 25% of the United States alone and nearly everyone knew someone who had died from it, which is probably why they took it very seriously. It should also be noted that people during that era were used to epidemics and quarantines, so the bans were probably not as hard of a change as it is today.

The flu pandemic of 1918 has been studied numerous times and lessons were learned from how they responded. You don’t even have to search the internet for what scientists and medical experts learned from the 1918 flu because you are already living it.

In simple terms they learned that “social distancing” slowed the spread, lowered the peaks and reduced the mortality rate overall.

They also learned that people were more likely to obey bans on public gatherings if you added layers of restrictions on them. By making it harder to do anything, you can keep people isolated and help “flatten the curve.”

So I ask you, what lessons will be learned from our current pandemic?

Will it be a lesson of how people did not take this virus seriously? How we hoarded precious rolls of toilet paper? Or will it be a lesson on how people can come together temporarily, giving up social freedoms to get through a pandemic?

I prefer the latter, but as history will show the choice is up to us.