Politics, Pushback, and Pandemics: Challenges to Public Health Orders in the 1918 Influenza Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 111 (3) ◽  
pp. 416-422
Author(s):  
J. Alexander Navarro ◽  
Howard Markel
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Influenza Pandemic ◽  
The United States ◽  
Business Owners ◽  
Public Health Emergency ◽  
Health Measures ◽  
Legal Challenges ◽  
Local Politicians ◽  
1918 Influenza

During the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, many state governors faced an increasing number of acts of defiance as well as political and legal challenges to their public health emergency orders. Less well studied are the similar acts of protest that occurred during the 1918–1919 influenza pandemic, when residents, business owners, clergy, and even local politicians grew increasingly restless by the ongoing public health measures, defied public health edicts, and agitated to have them rescinded. We explore several of the themes that emerged during the late fall of 1918 and conclude that, although the nation seems to be following the same path as it did in 1918, the motivations for pushback to the 2020 pandemic are decidedly more political than they were a century ago.

scholarly journals Influenza Circulation in United States Army Training Camps Before and During the 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Clues to Early Detection of Pandemic Viral Emergence

2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel S. Chertow ◽  
Rongman Cai ◽  
Junfeng Sun ◽  
John Grantham ◽  
Jeffery K. Taubenberger ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
World War I ◽  
United States Army ◽  
Respiratory Diseases ◽  
National Guard ◽  
Influenza Pandemic ◽  
Case Fatality ◽  
The United States ◽  
Low Incidence ◽  
1918 Influenza

Abstract Background.  Surveillance for respiratory diseases in domestic National Army and National Guard training camps began after the United States’ entry into World War I, 17 months before the “Spanish influenza” pandemic appeared. Methods.  Morbidity, mortality, and case-fatality data from 605 625 admissions and 18 258 deaths recorded for 7 diagnostic categories of respiratory diseases, including influenza and pneumonia, were examined over prepandemic and pandemic periods. Results.  High pandemic influenza mortality was primarily due to increased incidence of, but not increased severity of, secondary bacterial pneumonias. Conclusions.  Two prepandemic incidence peaks of probable influenza, in December 1917–January 1918 and in March–April 1918, differed markedly from the September–October 1918 pandemic onset peak in their clinical-epidemiologic features, and they may have been caused by seasonal or endemic viruses. Nevertheless, rising proportions of very low incidence postinfluenza bronchopneumonia (diagnosed at the time as influenza and bronchopneumonia) in early 1918 could have reflected circulation of the pandemic virus 5 months before it emerged in pandemic form. In this study, we discuss the possibility of detecting pandemic viruses before they emerge, by surveillance of special populations.

scholarly journals Policy liberalism and source of news predict pandemic-related health behaviors and trust in the scientific community

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (6) ◽  
pp. e0252670
Author(s):  
Madeleine Reinhardt ◽  
Matthew B. Findley ◽  
Renee A. Countryman
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Health Behaviors ◽  
News Media ◽  
Perceived Risk ◽  
Scientific Community ◽  
The United States ◽  
World Health ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
Health Measures

In March of 2020, the United States was confronted with a major public health crisis caused by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). This study aimed to identify what factors influence adherence to recently implemented public health measures such as mask-wearing and social distancing, trust of scientific organizations like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) on information pertaining to the pandemic, and level of perceived risk. Data were collected from June 30, 2020 to July 22, 2020 on 951 adult residents of the United States using an online survey through Microsoft Forms. Multiple linear regression was used to identify the strongest predictors for compliance to pandemic-related health measures, trust in the scientific community, and perceived risk. Results showed that the strongest predictor of all variables of interest was degree of policy liberalism. Additionally, participants who consumed more conservative news media conformed less to the pandemic health guidelines and had less trust in the scientific community. Degree of policy liberalism was found to have a significant moderating effect on the relationship between gender and conformity to pandemic-related health behaviors. These findings have concerning implications that factors like degree of policy liberalism and source of news are more influential in predicting adherence to life-saving health measures than established risk factors like pre-existing health conditions.

scholarly journals Racial Disparities in Mortality During the 1918 Influenza Pandemic in United States Cities

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Eiermann ◽  
Elizabeth Wrigley-Field ◽  
James J. Feigenbaum ◽  
Jonas Helgertz ◽  
Elaine Hernandez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Racial Disparities ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Racial Inequality ◽  
Influenza Pandemic ◽  
The United States ◽  
Careful Examination ◽  
Unexpected Result ◽  
1918 Influenza ◽  
Socio Demographic Factors

The 1918 influenza pandemic stands out because of the unusual age pattern of high mortality. In the United States, another feature merits scientific scrutiny: against a historical backdrop of extreme racial health inequality, the pandemic produced strikingly small ratios of nonwhite to white influenza and pneumonia mortality. We provide the most complete account to date of these racial disparities in 1918, showing that, across U.S. cities, they were almost uniformly small. We examine four potential explanations for this unexpected result, including [1] socio-demographic factors like segregation, [2] city-level implementation of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs), [3] exposure to the milder spring 1918 “herald wave,” and [4] early-life exposures to other influenza strains resulting in differential immunological vulnerability to the 1918 flu. While we find little evidence for 1-3, we offer suggestive evidence that racial variation in early-life exposure to the 1889-1892 influenza pandemic shrunk racial disparities during the 1918 pandemic. We also raise the possibility that differential behavioral responses to the herald wave may have protected nonwhite urban populations. By providing a comprehensive description and careful examination of the potential drivers of racial inequality in mortality during the 1918 pandemic, our study provides a framework to consider interactions between the natural history of particular microbial agents and the social histories of the populations they infect.

scholarly journals The US Public Health Service House-to-House Canvass Survey of the Morbidity and Mortality of the 1918 Influenza Pandemic

2020 ◽  
pp. e1-e8
Author(s):  
Alfredo Morabia
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Health Service ◽  
Cumulative Incidence ◽  
Public Health Service ◽  
San Antonio ◽  
Influenza Pandemic ◽  
The United States ◽  
Population Based ◽  
The Us

Between November 20, 1918, and March 12, 1919, the US Public Health Service carried out a vast population-based survey to assess the incidence rate and mortality of the influenza pandemic among 146 203 persons in 18 localities across the United States. The survey attempted to retrospectively assess all self-reported or diagnosed cases of influenza since August 1, 1918. It indicated that the cumulative incidence of symptomatic influenza over 6 months had been 29.4% (range = 15% in Louisville, KY, to 53.3% in San Antonio, TX). The overall case fatality rate (CFR) was 1.70%, and it ranged from 0.78% in San Antonio to 3.14% in New London, Connecticut. Localities with high cumulative incidence were not necessarily those with high CFR. Overall, assuming the survey missed asymptomatic cases, between August 1, 1918, and February 21, 1919, maybe more than 50% of the population was infected, and about 1% of the infected died. Eight months into the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States has not yet launched a survey that would provide population-based estimates of incidence and CFRs analogous to those generated by the 1918 US Public Health Service house-to-house canvass survey of influenza. Published online ahead of print December 8, 2020: 1–8. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2020.306025 )

scholarly journals A Social Network Model of the COVID-19 Pandemic

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pei Jun Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Social Distance ◽  
The United States ◽  
Viral Transmission ◽  
Model Parameters ◽  
Weighted Graphs ◽  
The Public ◽  
Health Measures ◽  
The U.S

AbstractIn the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, currently vaccines and specific anti-viral treatment are not yet available. Thus, preventing viral transmission by case isolation, quarantine, and social distancing is essential to slowing its spread. Here we model social networks using weighted graphs, where vertices represent individuals and edges represent contact. As public health measures are implemented, connectivity in the graph decreases, resulting in lower effective reproductive numbers, and reduced viral transmission. For COVID-19, model parameters were derived from the coronavirus epidemic in China, validated by epidemic data in Italy, then applied to the United States. We calculate that, in the U.S., the public is able to contain viral transmission by limiting the average number of contacts per person to less than 7 unique individuals over each 5 day period. This increases the average social distance between individuals to 10 degrees of separation.

scholarly journals Coronavirus and Pharmacists

2020 ◽  
Vol 67 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-6
Author(s):  
Ken Thai
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Public Health Emergency ◽  
World Health ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Wuhan City ◽  
The World ◽  
High Season ◽  
Health Organization

Pharmacists and our fellow healthcare colleagues typically expect a break from our “high season” of cough, cold, and flu patients that have filled our pharmacies, clinics, and hospitals by this time of the year. Everyone is prepping for the end of the winter and the dawning of spring. This year was unlike many as we have heard loud cries across the globe regarding the outbreak of the novel “new” coronavirus. The virus was first detected from the Wuhan City of China. It has since infected tens of thousands of people in China and across the world. In fact, the World Health Organization has declared the outbreak a “public health emergency of international concern.” Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar declared a public health emergency for the United States to aid the nation's healthcare community in responding. A proclamation was signed on January 31, 2020, by the United States to suspend entry of anyone who poses a risk of transmitting the coronavirus.

Public Policy Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Blood Supply in the United States

2021 ◽  
pp. e1-e7
Author(s):  
William Riley ◽  
Kailey Love ◽  
Jeffrey McCullough
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Blood Supply ◽  
Emergency Preparedness ◽  
The United States ◽  
Public Health Emergency ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
The Public ◽  
Preparedness Planning ◽  
The Impact

The COVID-19 pandemic has precipitated an acute blood shortage for medical transfusions, exacerbating an already tenuous blood supply system in the United States, contributing to the public health crisis, and raising deeper questions regarding emergency preparedness planning for ensuring blood availability. However, these issues around blood availability during the pandemic are related primarily to the decline in supply caused by reduced donations during the pandemic rather than increased demand for transfusion of patients with COVID-19. The challenges to ensure a safe blood supply during the pandemic will continue until a vaccine is developed, effective treatments are available, or the virus goes away. If this virus or a similar virus were capable of transmission through blood, it would have a catastrophic impact on the health care system, causing a future public health emergency that would jeopardize the national blood supply. In this article, we identify the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on blood supply adequacy, discuss the public health implications, propose recovery strategies, and present recommendations for preparing for the next disruption in blood supply driven by a public health emergency. (Am J Public Health. Published online ahead of print March 18, 2021: e1–e7. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2021.306157 )

scholarly journals The Effect of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Mitigation Strategies on Seasonal Respiratory Viruses: A Tale of 2 Large Metropolitan Centers in the United States

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy C Sherman ◽  
Ahmed Babiker ◽  
Andrew J Sieben ◽  
Alexander Pyden ◽  
James Steinberg ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ◽  
The United States ◽  
Respiratory Viruses ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
The Public ◽  
Health Measures ◽  
Reproductive Rates ◽  
The Impact

Abstract To assess the impact of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic on seasonal respiratory viruses, absolute case counts and viral reproductive rates from 2019–2020 were compared against previous seasons. Our findings suggest that the public health measures implemented to reduce SARS-CoV-2 transmission significantly reduced the transmission of other respiratory viruses.

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