Philadelphia

There was a significant impact on religion, as many believed the plague was God’s punishment for sinful ways. Church lands and buildings were unaffected, but there were too few priests left to maintain the old schedule of services.

Because the Black Death killed so many people, there was much more demand for the workers and peasants who survived. They were able to get better wages and working conditions and such after the Black Death. This helped to improve their standard of living and it also helped to give them more power over their lives

The number of deaths was estimated to be at least 50 million worldwide with about 675,000 occurring in the United States. Mortality was high in people younger than 5 years old, 20-40 years old, and 65 years and older.

The virus hit in three waves, with the second during the fall of 1918 specifically spelling devastation on US soil. Cities across the country shut down churches and schools, required residents to wear masks, and erected makeshift hospitals to help fight the disease

When influenza appeared in the United States in 1918, Americans responded to the incursion of disease with measures used since Antiquity, such as quarantines and social distancing. During the pandemic’s zenith, many cities shut down essential services.

There have been multiple pandemic and epidemic outbreaks in recent history, including the 1918 influenza pandemic, the 2003 SARS-CoV outbreak, and most recently, the COVID-19 pandemic.

Some medical historians and epidemiologists have theorized that the 1918 pandemic began in Asia, citing a lethal outbreak of pulmonary disease in China as the forerunner of the pandemic. Others have speculated the virus was spread by Chinese or Vietnamese laborers either crossing the United States or working in France.

A temporary hospital in Camp Funston, Kansas, during the 1918–19 influenza pandemic. Influenza is caused by a virus that is transmitted from person to person through airborne respiratory secretions.

Symptoms: Normal flu symptoms of fever, nausea, aches and diarrhea. Many developed severe pneumonia attack. Dark spots would appear on the cheeks and patients would turn blue, suffocating from a lack of oxygen as lungs filled with a frothy, bloody substance

Epidemiologists believe almost all animal-derived influenza cases that have occurred since were caused by strains descended from the 1918 virus. “It certainly is possible that a flu virus could again arise in the animal reservoir that is more pathogenic than the typical flu,” Bouvier said.

In 1918, scientists had identified many bacteria that caused illness, but they had not yet discovered viruses so could not identify the cause of influenza. No laboratory tests were available in 1918 to detect, isolate, or characterize influenza viruses.