30. The First Media Disease

The late 19th century brought in dramatic improvements in travel and communication. Now one can hear about news from across the European continent instantly, and travel hundreds of kilometers in a few days. And as the speed of travel increased, so did the speed of the spread of disease. We look at the 1890 flu pandemic, the so-called "Russian flu" or "Asiatic flu". Known as the first modern or first media epidemic, it spread faster than previous outbreaks, spreading around the world in just under a year. And thanks to the new global newspaper industry, the reactions to it were strikingly different than before. And yet, the similarities between the outbreaks of 1890 and 2020 are so similar, that some people are wondering if the answers to our current predicament can be found in this long forgotten outbreak. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sbjk7RtMf_b2jkSLSpD1pieYg0NeV1ssBNI60zMF4PQ/edit?usp=sharing