Spanish Flu, HIV, Ebola: How US Presidents Fighted Epidemics

The history of humanity is the history of epidemics. Compared to people who lived even 100 years ago, we are very knowledgeable, notes "Voice of America". We know that there are certain causative agents of the disease, mechanisms of transmission of the disease, we know how the disease progresses and - at least theoretically - how to cope with some of the diseases. But our recent ancestors did not know this.

Photo: Shutterstock

US presidents, like heads of any other states, the most they could do was not impose a quarantine too late. And even this was very difficult, because in America states and municipalities have great power, and if the president interferes in something that is the prerogative of the state, it is a terrible scandal. Also, the presidents could somehow help the victims. Nothing more was expected from them.

"Spaniard"

A classic example is the Spanish Flu at the beginning of the 20th century. The President of the United States at that time was Woodrow Wilson, an intellectual, president of Princeton University, and author of many books. No one expected that he could somehow stop the Spanish flu epidemic, from which Americans were dying in terrible numbers. The army is faced with the fact that recruits and soldiers who live in barracks and serve in the fight against the epidemic are beginning to die en masse from this flu. The American military generally contributed to the spread of the Spanish flu because they traveled to Europe on ships that made infection inevitable.

Wilson himself fell ill with the Spanish flu - this is also one of the factors of the epidemic that influenced international politics. He participated in an international conference in Paris following the First World War and discussed the fate of the world; being sick, he signed the “Peace of Versailles”. They said that his thinking abilities had deteriorated greatly; due to his illness, he ceased to be the Wilson he was known before. And, apparently, he died from the consequences of the Spanish flu.

But at the same time they say that in 1918 Wilson never mentioned the “Spanish flu”, and newspapers in the allied countries were prohibited from writing in detail about this disease, because there was a war and this information could strengthen the enemy. Why was the virus that spread throughout the world called the Spanish virus? Because Spanish newspapers - a country that did not fight - wrote about it freely. Everyone decided that since the Spanish newspapers wrote so much about it, the virus appeared in Spain. In fact, it originated somewhere in Asia, probably China.

On the subject: “You think twice whether to go to the doctor”: why coronavirus in the USA can quickly become a disaster

Just as now we see a lot of advice on how to prevent the spread of coronavirus, how not to get infected, then there was a lot of advice regarding the Spanish flu. New Yorkers were very conscientious: everyone, even the janitors, wore masks. There were even public service announcements that promoted wearing masks and said: “It’s better to look funny than to be dead.”

It is interesting that by that time humanity had accumulated quite a lot of experience in fighting epidemics, but there were no funds yet. The same New York was a terribly dirty city - there were incredible slums, garbage in the streets, deposits of manure, biological substances on which all kinds of bacteria thrive. People didn't know how to handle garbage. In the best case, huge barrels of carbolic acid appeared, which they poured into everything they could, in the belief that this could somehow help. But it didn't help much.

In addition, the Spanish flu was not the only killer of humanity in those days: tuberculosis was raging, smallpox, whooping cough, and diphtheria continued. Interestingly, when there was an outbreak of diphtheria in Alaska in 1925, serum had to be delivered to many settlements by dogs; a monument was even erected to one of these dogs. But this is a case where some kind of vaccine and treatment methods already existed. And in many cases, humanity did not know what it was facing.

ВИЧ

But let's fast forward several decades.

In 1981, a bulletin from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an American government organization that monitors diseases, mentioned that 5 gay men, previously healthy young people, had strangely become ill in Los Angeles. They were found to have a terrible bouquet of the most exotic diseases, which demonstrates that they have problems with immunity. By the time of publication, two of the patients mentioned had died. It is believed that this is the very first mention of the beginning of the “plague of the twentieth century.”

Subsequently, many studies were carried out, which showed that the virus originated somewhere in Africa, and cases of the disease of Americans, Europeans, South Americans were recorded earlier, just no one paid attention to them. A certain new threat arose, from which the gay community suffered mainly at that time. This epidemic was raging in Los Angeles and in New York. And since we are talking about how the presidents acted at different times during the epidemics, it is worth mentioning that when the epidemic erupted in New York, many blamed the presidential administrations acting then.

For example, historian Jonathan Soffer says the administrations of Presidents Ford, Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan were largely to blame. Reagan is usually blamed as the main culprit because his subordinates repeatedly said it was a "gay plague." Then there was no name yet and the disease was called that. Reagan targeted the conservative electorate, which considered gays to be the product of something terrible. Reagan mentioned the presence of the epidemic in 1985 - that is, 4 years after the epidemic began. Subsequently, allocations to combat the epidemic were increased several thousand times, but, according to critics of the president, precious time was lost. When Reagan died, the gay community was very critical of him because he was called a "gay killer." There was no attempt to save them, the state did not interfere in this area and did not apply methods to combat the epidemic, pretending that nothing was happening.

Reagan once spoke and said that he had deep sympathy for children who were infected, but understood the dissatisfaction of parents of healthy children with whom such a child might end up at school. Although by that time it was known that HIV was not transmitted through everyday contact and these children were safe for their peers. The President could not have known this, but he followed the traditional path, which was welcomed by conservative circles in America. At that time, the epidemic was at the initial stage and little was known about the virus - America was also faced with many other diseases - tuberculosis, sexually transmitted diseases were on the rise. Therefore, it was not easy for the president to make the right decision. But the fact that he did not try to intervene in the process with the help of his moral and imperious authority, did not talk about it, played a certain role.

You can kindly mention President George W. Bush, who is not loved for much, but who has made huge sums of money to fight the epidemic on a global scale. Largely thanks to his efforts, the epidemic in the world was reduced. At the time of his reign, there were epidemics of SARS and swine flu.

What is expected of the president during a pandemic

There is a fairy tale about how a shepherd boy shouted several times: “Wolves, wolves!” People came running and saw that there were no wolves, but when the wolves actually came, the people did not come running. So international medical organizations begin to cry every time: “Wolves!” Sometimes they make mistakes, but we should never ignore their cries because we don’t know what it will lead to. The Spanish Flu seemed like an ordinary flu, which everyone knows, but it became a record holder for the number of lives lost. It was modern, civilized humanity, the peak of scientific thought, the 20th century - but everyone was unable to cope with the virus.

On the subject: What you need to know if you are going to cancel a trip due to coronavirus

How are presidents tested during an epidemic? They are expected to lead and be a moral example. If we turn to the first US President George Washington, the city of Washington did not exist, the small government sat in Philadelphia, where an epidemic of yellow fever brought from the Caribbean began. George Washington fled Philadelphia and that was the end of it. Nobody complained to him - but what could he do? He should not have died heroically along with everyone else, but should have ruled the state. And he went down in history as the founder of the American state and the greatest president. And this episode was forgotten.

Donald Trump in 2014, when he was not yet president, accused Obama of reckless actions and “total incompetence” in his tweet: “This is a complete disaster - he could have done something important, namely, cut off air travel to African countries.” And Obama sent the military there to help fight the Ebola epidemic. Obama's ratings were very low then, but he repeatedly said that any crisis provides some new opportunities. And his team managed to prevent the outbreak of an epidemic in the United States, after which the ratings went up sharply.

Now the Democrats who are fighting for the White House are reproaching President Trump for inadequately responding to a serious threat, while the president is proving that, on the contrary, his administration is doing everything right. We will test which of them is right on our own skin. The most important thing is wash your hands and stay healthy!

Read also on ForumDaily:

Americans buy cleaning products in fear of coronavirus: will they help

What you need to know if you are going to cancel a trip due to coronavirus

Coronavirus in New York: the first case of infection was confirmed in the city

Coronavirus in the USA: first deaths, state of emergency, and more than 8000 patients in California

Do you want more important and interesting news about life in the USA and immigration to America? — support us donate! Also subscribe to our page Facebook. Select the “Priority in display” option and read us first. Also, don't forget to subscribe to our РєР ° РЅР ° Р »РІ Telegram  and Instagram- there is a lot of interesting things there. And join thousands of readers ForumDaily New York — there you will find a lot of interesting and positive information about life in the metropolis.