Record from Spanish Flu pandemic in 1918 shows how premature lift of lockdown killed 4,500 people
- A report from the Spanish Flu pandemic in 1918 revealed that a premature lift of lockdown ended 4,500 lives in Philadelphia
- Philadelphia chose to remove quarantine protocols meant to curb the spread of the Spanish Flu outbreak to hold a 200,000-man morale parade to prepare for a war combat
- Within two 72 hours after the parade, all hospitals were filled with Spanish Flu patients and 4,500 lives were lost within 2 weeks
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Reports from an event during the Spanish Flu pandemic shows how thousands of people lost their lives as a result of a premature end to a lockdown exercise.
According to Smithsonianmag.com, Philadelphia chose to remove quarantine protocols meant to curb the spread of the Spanish Flu outbreak to hold a 200,000-man morale parade in preparation for war.
It is indicated that within 72 hours of the parade, every bed in Philadelphia’s 31 hospitals was filled with patients who contracted the deadly virus and needed to be hospitalized.
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In the week ending October 5, some 2,600 people in Philadelphia had died from the flu or its complications and that number rose to more than 4,500 over the next week.
With many of the city’s health professionals pressed into military service, Philadelphia was unprepared for the deluge of death.
For Philadelphia, the fallout was swift and deadly as just two days after the parade, the city’s public health director, Wilmer Krusen, issued a grim pronouncement:
“The epidemic is now present in the civilian population and is assuming the type found in naval stations and cantonments [army camps].”
READ ALSO: Ghana leads the world as 1st nation using drones to speed up COVID-19 testing
The report shows the importance of social-distancing in an attempt to combat a pandemic and how Ghanaians need to take the protocols seriously especially as lockdown has been lifted in the country.
It would be recalled that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo lifted the partial lockdown imposed to prevent COVID-19 spread on April 20, 2020, as too much economic life was being affected.
In another interesting report, Black eco-entrepreneur Dr Lisa Dyson and her co-founder, Dr John Reed, have discovered an interesting technology that uses microbes to make protein from the air.
According to Gotechdaily.com, the technology would help save the planet from climate change as it involves the use of carbon dioxide (CO2) as a raw material for meat production with the use of microbes.
At the same time, the brilliant discovery provides a great alternative to getting healthy meat that does not harm any animal and could be used by vegetarians without feeling guilty.
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Source: YEN.com.gh
