“The Great Influenza” by John M. Barry is fascinating. It explains how a flu virus became pandemic in 1918.

The publisher’s summary says, “No disease the world has ever known, even remotely, resembles the great influenza epidemic of 1918 when sick farm animals infected soldiers in Kansas, spreading and mutating into a lethal strain as troops carried it to Europe, it exploded across the world with unequaled ferocity and speed. It killed more people in 20 weeks than AIDS in 20 years …more people than the plagues of the Middle Ages in a century … Bodies were stacked without coffins on trucks (hospital hallways and on front porches) nearly seven times as many people died of influenza as in the First World War.”

There have been pandemics every 75 to 125 years throughout history. It has been 102 years since the last. In 1918, mistakes made by governments hastened its spread and drove the death count to 20 million. It was named the Spanish flu because the United States and several countries in Europe put censors on newspapers, media and medical authorities forbidding them from reporting on it. Months into it, Spain was the first country to report, so was awarded the name.

The world was at war. The USA and other countries had “Sedation Acts,” laws which controlled public information, silencing topics deemed contrary to economic stability (the stock market), articles questioning government policy and/or anti-war sentiment. People went to jail that violated this, as traitors. People were told to have parades, go shopping, go to church, movies, have parties, etc. not being informed that group meetings were where the disease was being spread.

In 1918, scientist, public health officials were horrified that the government was not informing the public of the truth. Many of these scenarios are being repeated today with the corona virus.

President Donald Trump has reported lower numbers of cases than are true and misinformation concerning a vaccine timeline. He has censored the medical authorities at the Centers for Disease Control. He has contradicted scientists who say that pandemic is inevitable. He has put Mike Pence in charge of the epidemic, someone who has a history of not making a decision during an epidemic that spread life threatening disease because of his failure to react.

Trump has blamed the drop in the stock market on the Democratic Party debate but the drop occurred days before the debate due to uncertainty about the corona virus.

This is not a partisan, political issue. This is a life-or-death issue. We need a leader who can unite science, economics, politicians and citizens by facing and telling the truth; none are president’s strong points.

BETTY GARDNER

Priest River