The novel coronavirus pandemic is causing worldwide suffering due to the abundance of deaths it has caused and more than one million confirmed cases around the world. Though this is the first outbreak to affect the majority of the population in recent times, coronavirus is not the first pandemic to hit the United States.
One of the most memorable, recent pandemics, that possibly every Sonoma State student remembers, is the 2009-2010 Swine Flu. The Swine Flu was first detected in the U.S and spread quickly across the globe.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC, about 60.8 million cases, 274,304 hospitalizations, and 12,469 deaths were estimated from April 12, 2009, to April 10, 2010, in the United States. Unlike the coronavirus, 80% of the Swine Flu deaths occurred to people that were younger than 65 years old.
The Swine Flu was transmitted from pigs and a mutation allowed it to infect humans. COVID-19 has not reached the numbers of the Swine Flu, but we haven’t had the virus for that long in the U.S, so time will tell how the novel coronavirus compares in the long run.
Before the 2009 Swine Flu, the U.S. experienced a far-reaching pandemic with the influenza of 1918, commonly known as the Spanish Flu, though it is believed to have originated in Kansas.
The 1918 contagion was one of the biggest pandemics in history, killing an estimated 675,000 Americans and approximately 50 million people around the world, according to the CDC. While the debate continues as to the origin of the 1918 flu, some experts believe that it was transmitted from pigs, similar to the Swine Flu.
This influenza was also, like the swine flu, targeted to younger people around the world, making it different from the coronavirus. Although anyone can get coronavirus, it seems to be worse for those that have health conditions and are above 65 years old.
HIV/AIDS is probably the most notorious disease, as it has killed millions of people globally. Though HIV is not curable, it can be treated, just like coronavirus. A huge difference between the two pandemics is that COVID-19 is easier to get, which is why social distancing is extremely important to practice at this very moment.
Evidence shows that this new lethal virus, COVID-19, can potentially be worse than all these other pandemics in U.S. history. The primary reason for this is the fact that this virus has spread across the globe faster than most pandemics. There are many factors as to why that is, one being that it is highly contagious, which only shows how important it is to follow guidelines and rules set by the county you live in.
Despite the fact that some medical professionals say COVID-19 is worse than other pandemics, others think it’s hard to say due to the new technologies and medicines we have now.
