How many Americans do you think died during the 1918 Flu Pandemic?

Vivian Vance.

OMG! I forgot Vance/Zoo R1.

Profuse apologies to everyone on Datalounge.

I guessed 1 million - the correct answer is 675,000 in the US, and 50 million worldwide.

Correct R3!

I thought it would be interesting to see what everyone guessed based on their knowledge of history and comparing the 1918 pandemic to the 2019 pandemic numbers.

In 1918 there obviously weren't the medical facilities or modern medications such as antibiotics which we have now.

Today's Covid-19 US death toll = 261,790 and we are about half way through the 2019 pandemic.

Link to the CDC.

[quote]Please take my pole.

OP's pick up line at last call?

I don't know, kinda sounds like OP's pick up line at all times.

Sorry, OP -I don't want to touch your pole...

You're welcome R6.

Your loss R7! It's a juicy and fat pole...

My twin sister, Rhiannon Zeta-Jones.

It is an interesting fact. But before everyone uses it to dismiss the current pandemic, remember age expectancy was about 52 - vs 75+. People died young.

I think we are headed there because this huge spike is just beginning. With the Thanksgiving travel unabated based on airport pics, it’s only growing exponentially from here. Like 1918, we have to protect ourselves.

Given where we are, it should ALWAYS be “take my pole.”

[quote] and we are about half way through the 2019 pandemic.

How to you figure that? I think we are near the tail end of it.

Have you turned on the TV recently R12? At all?

Second/third waves in the US, South America and Europe just beginning with daily infections rising exponentially.

This won't be over until an effective vaccine is rolled out to all which will be around the middle/end of 2021 onwards.

[quote] Please take my pole.

That's what HE said!

Second/third waves imply nearing the end, R13, the pattern was predicted from the start.

On my area, this peak is much higher than the first in May. And it’s still skyrocketing. So I don’t see how we are even 1/2 way through. 5-6 months until a vaccine is the only realistic end/slowdown.

We could beat that number. It all depends on the vaccine. If it become available to the General public before Sept. 1, 2021.

There has been a total sum of 1,304,710 Americans who died in every major American war to date. This incluses the 620,000 that died in the Civil War, when both sides were Americans. We could reach this number if an effective, safe vaccine is not available next year (2021).

That's a sobering thought R18.

Social Distancing: Do NOT touch — or take — any poles! Or Poles!

It was easy to figure out. There were about 30 million infected in the U.S and the death rate was about 2.2% (the same death rate as Covid-19), so the closest answer was 675,000.

OP

And we have around 3X as many residents today.

I guessed 1 million.

The percentage of people infected with Covid-19 in the U.S. is way less than the percentage who were infected with the Spanish Flu.

Ah, I got the correct answer. It was a pure guess.

I had 3 great uncles die of the Spanish flu - all in their late teens to late 20s. Two Irish immigrants, and one from Appalachian Virginia. But all 4 died in Montana. So it's very real event in the history of my family.

I had a great uncle who was a WWI soldier who died from the Spanish Flu. No one else in the family died from it. He was the only male sibling in his family.

I had a co-worker whose great uncles, except the youngest, were drafted and sent to Europe. The youngest was allowed to stay home because he was needed to run the Illinois family farm. As you can guess, all the brothers in Europe survived and he succumbed to the flu.

US population in 1900 was 6.7 million, so around 10 percent of the population died. Today US 330 million, 330,000 dead would only be 1 percent. And mostly olds. We are MUCH better off.

Still, my SIL's mother was taken off the respirator yesterday. Sure, she was old but she was doing just fine before her Trump loving, maskless sister came to visit.She now says, "We need to pray even harder now". GODDAMN these motherfuckers all to hell. You know, anyone could accidently transmit the virus. But fucking admit it. That you are a stupid, selfish, cunt who killed her sister.

It played out just like you hear. Say goodbye in the ER and you'll never see them again.

My three great-uncles, 28-34 years old, all died within 3 months in 1918. This affected me directly because losing its top three earners stressed my already poor maternal family to the breaking point, caused my grandmother to take in a boarder who molested my mother, leading my mother to inadvertantly ignore the abuse I suffered from a family member, and hence the misery I suffered for decades.

Maybe 600,000 + died, but the effects were exponential.

Yeah, let’s not forget that this thing isn’t over yet. We’ll have 300,000 dead by end of year. Maybe 600,000 dead by end of Winter. Even with a vaccine. Then, it depends a lot of how things go. We shouldn’t assume too much about a vaccine that’s brand née.

Brand nee? You bougie.

675,000

[quote]US population in 1900 was 6.7 million, so around 10 percent of the population died.

No, the U.S. population in 1900 was 76 million and in 1920 it was 106 million, so less than 1% of the population died.

There's so much misinformation that people deliberately put on DL, it would be a fulltime job to correct all the lies.

R28 The US population in 1900 was 76.09 million. In 1918 the US population was 103.2 million.

Wow, R34, that alone is jarring. Quite a leap--immigration, I presume.

[quote] remember age expectancy was about 52 - vs 75+. People died young.

That is always the misconception about life expectancy rates. While it is true that old age care was no where near what it is today, the primary reason for life expectancy rates being lower was because of childhood mortality. Life expectancy is an average, the higher childhood mortality is what lowered the average so much.

Immigration was a factor, but having enormous families was another. 5-7 children per family was common in the US until the Great Depression.

I can't believe some goofball really thought the total population of the United States in 1900 was 6.7 million. 🙄

R38 Maybe it was a typo.

No, because he went on to say that since 675,000 Americans died, 10% of the population died.

R28

[quote] Today US 330 million, 330,000 dead would only be 1 percent. And mostly olds. We are MUCH better off.

That’s 0.1%

3.3M dead would be 1%, or one in a hundred, mostly skewed over 80 years old.

For a healthy person under 50 the chance of dying is 1 in 50,000.

Are you going to suspend your life for that kind of improbability?

R38

The distribution of IQ on this site is...special.

It’s like a calculus class and Sp Ed class shared the same room, with no rules.