© REUTERS / Jonathan Ernst
President Donald Trump. REUTERS / Jonathan Ernst
- During an eventual press release on Monday, President Donald Trump wrongly claimed that the Spanish flu in 1917 “probably ended World War II.”
- World War II began more than two decades after the pandemic.
- The president probably intended to refer to World War I, the last few months overlapping with the deadly spread of the flu, which also began in the summer of 1918, not 1917.
- The deployment of troops in World War I probably contributed to the spread of the 1918 flu due to widespread conditions and intercontinental movement, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
- Trump also said during the press conference that the Spanish flu, which he described as the ‘Great Pandemic’, killed 50 million to 100 million people.
- The 1918 pandemic, which was caused by an H1N1 virus, infected up to 500 million people worldwide, and killed at least 50 million people, according to the CDC.
- Comparisons have been made between the deadly 1918 pandemic and COVID-19 pandemic due to new rapid and deadly spread of new virus.
- Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates said there were lessons learned from the treatment of the Spanish flu that could be applied to the national and global response to coronavirus.
- Visit the Business Insider website for more stories.
—Francis DiPersio | HPP (@FrankAtHPP) August 10, 2020
Video: LA County health director says young people ride on virus cases, stresses large gatherings are still banned (CBS Los Angeles)
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