Flu pandemic

In February 1957 the first case of the Asian flu appeared in China and two months later people in the US realized there was a pandemic underway. The Asian flu as it was called killed 1.5 million people worldwide including 70,000 in the US when the population of the US was half of what it is today. In the first months of the 1957 flu pandemic, the virus spread throughout China and surrounding regions. By midsummer it had reached the United States, where it appears to have initially infected relatively few people. Several months later, however, numerous cases of infection were reported, especially in young children, the elderly, and pregnant women. In 1968 the flu called the Hong Kong flu once again raised its ugly head. It was first noted in the United States in September 1968. The estimated number of deaths was 1 million worldwide and about 100,000 in the United States. Most excess deaths were in people 65 years and older. What these two have in common is that they hurt the elderly and that is the biggest mistake that was made in the Covid case. Instead of shutting down the country all of the resources should have been directed toward eldercare facilities, nursing homes and hospitals. There was a shortage of personal protection equipment (PPE) because the cupboard was bare and that is all the more reason that the PPE should have been reserved for the elderly and their caretakers.