Just over 100 years ago, the world was in the midst of a pandemic, just like it is now. It was the deadliest in history, infecting an estimated 500 million people worldwide and claiming between 20 and 50 million lives.
In Canada, it killed about 55,000, mostly young adults. The Spanish Flu of 1918 is seen as a benchmark in how the world sees, responds to and quantifies pandemics.
As the wrath of COVID-19 continues to surge worldwide, sinking its teeth further into Europe and North America, scientists and historians are drawing parallels to the 19th-century influenza but are quick to point out that there are still stark differences. “It’s similar in some ways that are frightening and some ways that are comforting,” said Skip Desjardins, a