Democracy Now!
Historian: Government Lies Resulted in Mass Deaths During 1918 Spanish Flu
“As health experts warn that COVID-19 cases are on the rise in 41 states and many governors reimpose restrictions after attempts at opening up the economy, President Trump continues to call for schools to open. John Barry, a public health historian, cautions in a New York Times op-ed that “The Pandemic Could Get Much, Much Worse” if we don’t take bolder action now. Barry, the author of “The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History,” shares about the origins of the 1918 Spanish flu and how the dissemination of information about a disease outbreak is closely linked to war and imperialism. “In the warring countries, there is censorship or in the U.S., pretty effective self-censorship,” Barry says. “Spain was not at war. … Nobody was calling it a hoax in 1918. The virus was much more lethal than we are seeing now.”
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