The first two months of the city’s COVID-19 pandemic were comparable to the number of deaths during the peak of the 1918 flu in New York City, according to a new study.
Investigators specifically examined New York City, and compared mortality from all causes during the peak of the 1918 flu with the earlier months of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the city suffered the most.
“What we want people to know is that this has potential from 1918,” said lead author Dr. Jeremy Faust on CNBC. “This is not something to just take up like the flu.” Faust specializes in emergency medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and teaches at Harvard Medical School.
The study was published Thursday in JAMA Network Open.
MORE THAN 100 YEARS OF CORONAVIRUS, THE SPANISH FLU PANDEMIC OF GLOBE RAVAGED
Masks and Refrigerators Used in USA General Hospital No. 4, Fort Porter, New York, 1918. Patients’ beds are inverted, alternating so that the patient’s breath will not be directed toward another’s face. (Photo by PhotoQuest / Getty Images)
Public data were compiled from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and the U.S. Census Bureau.
At the height of the 1918 H1N1 impact, authors of the study said, a total of 31,589 causes of the entire cause occurred among 5.5 million city dwellers. In the early period of the COVID-19 outbreak in NYC, 33,465 deaths from all causes among 8.28 million residents, she wrote.
Investigators concluded that excessive deaths during the height of the 1918 flu pandemic were “higher than just comparable” to those observed during the first two months of the COVID-19 outbreak in NYC.
The study found at least more than 20 million worldwide COVID-19 infections and at least 760,880 deaths worldwide, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The US tops the world in coronavirus deaths with at least 167,528 lives lost.
Study authors say that during the 1918 flu pandemic, there were over 50 million related deaths worldwide, including 675,000 in the US
AMERICA RELEARNING THE LESSONS OF THE 1918 SPANISH FLU PANDEMIC
A man in a protective mask crosses the Avenue de la Americas in midtown Manhattan in April, leaving because of the city’s confinement caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. (iStock)
To be sure, there have been many advances in medical interventions since 1918, such as mechanical ventilation, kidney replacement therapy, and standard resuscitation, among others, researchers said.
After accounting for improvements in hygiene and other performance in public health and safety, authors of the study said that the increase in deaths in the city earlier this year was actually “substantially greater” than that seen at the peak of the year. 1918 pandemic.
“If not treated properly, SARS-CoV-2 infection may have similar or greater mortality than 1918 H1N1 influenza virus infection,” researchers wrote, referring to the official name of the new coronavirus.
Researchers said that one limitation of the study is that the number of deaths caused by COVID-19 due to these medical advances is unknown.
The team said its findings could help “contextualize the unusual scale of the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to more cautious policies” to reduce the spread of viruses and reduce the burden on hospitals.
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