A Lesson from the Spanish Flu: Don’t End Restrictions Too Soon

Social distancing didn’t meaningfully reduce deaths from the Spanish flu because it didn’t last long enough, says a new paper.

Peter Coy

09 May 2020, 12:23 PM IST

A Lesson from the Spanish Flu: Don’t End Restrictions Too Soon

Emergency hospital at Brookline, Massachusetts to care for influenza cases in 1918. (Photograph: U.S. National Archives)

(Bloomberg Businessweek) -- Social distancing didn’t meaningfully reduce the number of deaths from the Spanish flu a century ago because it didn’t last long enough, says a new research paper that has implications for the response to Covid-19.

A Lesson from the Spanish Flu: Don’t End Restrictions Too Soon

Social distancing didn’t meaningfully reduce deaths from the Spanish flu because it didn’t last long enough, says a new paper.

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