The claim: During the 1968 flu pandemic, no businesses were ordered to close and large events such as Woodstock were still able to be held
While much of the country has been asked to stay at home and practice social distancing, social media users have started comparing the nation’s current handling of the novel coronavirus to another deadly outbreak, the 1968 flu.
A post by the American Institute for Economic Research claims businesses were still operating during the 1968 flu and that large events such as the Woodstock music festival took place, with over 60,000 people in attendance.
“Nothing closed. Schools stayed open. All businesses did too” the post reads. “You could go to the movies. You could go to bars and restaurants.” The post goes on to say that stock markets did not crash, no stay-at-home orders were enforced and no legislation was passed in Congress.
The post references stories from those who were present at the famous music event that took place on a dairy farm in New York in August 1969 and claims that Woodstock was planned in January 1969 “during the worse period of death.”
The post claims the only actions government took were collecting data, encouraging testing and vaccinations, adding that Congress and the media focused on the Vietnam War, civil rights movements and landing on the moon.
Memories from those who lived through 1968 pandemic
In a piece for the National Review, John Fund recalled his memories during the 1968 pandemic, saying he was just old enough to remember what was going on, as his family lived near the Travis Air Force Base in the Bay Area where soldiers returned home from Vietnam in 1968.
“It amazes me now, but I was able to give my oral report in class because the schools didn’t close in California — or anywhere else in the country,” Fund wrote. He said people still practiced social distancing, rode buses less frequently and washed their hands but people were still going to work.
Marilyn Brown, owner of See the World Travel & Tours in Harbor City, Calif., shared her story with Travel Weekly about her experiences in 1968, when her son Steven Brown was infected with the virus, and she thought his sickness was just "a bad flu."
“Other than my coworkers bringing their own alcohol to wipe down their desks and wipe down pencils and not use pencils that clients had used, we didn’t do anything,” Brown told Travel Weekly.
A New York Times article from August 1969 reported that dozens of doctors were present at Woodstock to address “the potential threat of a virus cold or pneumonia epidemic among such a large gathering.”
People had already developed immunity against 1968 pandemic
The 1968 flu pandemic, commonly referred to as the "Hong Kong Flu," was caused by an H3N2 avian influenza virus. The first recorded outbreak of the disease was in Hong Kong in the summer of 1968, though some experts theorize that the virus may have originated in mainland China.
The virus, which is still around today, is from a group of avian influenzas that also produced the 1957 flu pandemic’s H2N2 virus. The Centers for Disease Control estimates that 1 million people globally died from the 1968 flu pandemic — which lasted into 1969-70 — including 100,000 Americans.
Also of note is the difference in population: In July 1969, the U.S. had about 202.7 million people, compared to about 330 million now.
A February 2020 study published by researchers at the universities of Michigan and Hong Kong found that the 1968 flu pandemic was very similar in contagiousness and lethality to its 1957 predecessor, which itself was “found to resemble seasonal influenza with morbidity highest in children and mortality at the extremes of age.”
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...dstock-take-place-middle-pandemic/3094481001/
While much of the country has been asked to stay at home and practice social distancing, social media users have started comparing the nation’s current handling of the novel coronavirus to another deadly outbreak, the 1968 flu.
A post by the American Institute for Economic Research claims businesses were still operating during the 1968 flu and that large events such as the Woodstock music festival took place, with over 60,000 people in attendance.
“Nothing closed. Schools stayed open. All businesses did too” the post reads. “You could go to the movies. You could go to bars and restaurants.” The post goes on to say that stock markets did not crash, no stay-at-home orders were enforced and no legislation was passed in Congress.
The post references stories from those who were present at the famous music event that took place on a dairy farm in New York in August 1969 and claims that Woodstock was planned in January 1969 “during the worse period of death.”
The post claims the only actions government took were collecting data, encouraging testing and vaccinations, adding that Congress and the media focused on the Vietnam War, civil rights movements and landing on the moon.
Memories from those who lived through 1968 pandemic
In a piece for the National Review, John Fund recalled his memories during the 1968 pandemic, saying he was just old enough to remember what was going on, as his family lived near the Travis Air Force Base in the Bay Area where soldiers returned home from Vietnam in 1968.
“It amazes me now, but I was able to give my oral report in class because the schools didn’t close in California — or anywhere else in the country,” Fund wrote. He said people still practiced social distancing, rode buses less frequently and washed their hands but people were still going to work.
Marilyn Brown, owner of See the World Travel & Tours in Harbor City, Calif., shared her story with Travel Weekly about her experiences in 1968, when her son Steven Brown was infected with the virus, and she thought his sickness was just "a bad flu."
“Other than my coworkers bringing their own alcohol to wipe down their desks and wipe down pencils and not use pencils that clients had used, we didn’t do anything,” Brown told Travel Weekly.
A New York Times article from August 1969 reported that dozens of doctors were present at Woodstock to address “the potential threat of a virus cold or pneumonia epidemic among such a large gathering.”
People had already developed immunity against 1968 pandemic
The 1968 flu pandemic, commonly referred to as the "Hong Kong Flu," was caused by an H3N2 avian influenza virus. The first recorded outbreak of the disease was in Hong Kong in the summer of 1968, though some experts theorize that the virus may have originated in mainland China.
The virus, which is still around today, is from a group of avian influenzas that also produced the 1957 flu pandemic’s H2N2 virus. The Centers for Disease Control estimates that 1 million people globally died from the 1968 flu pandemic — which lasted into 1969-70 — including 100,000 Americans.
Also of note is the difference in population: In July 1969, the U.S. had about 202.7 million people, compared to about 330 million now.
A February 2020 study published by researchers at the universities of Michigan and Hong Kong found that the 1968 flu pandemic was very similar in contagiousness and lethality to its 1957 predecessor, which itself was “found to resemble seasonal influenza with morbidity highest in children and mortality at the extremes of age.”
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...dstock-take-place-middle-pandemic/3094481001/
