IN OCTOBER of 1918, approximately 11,000 people died in Philadelphia of what is now known as the Spanish Flu. Just to make that clear: 11,000 people died of the flu in one month alone. More than 4,000 people died in one week. The Armistice ending World War I was declared on November 11.

A total of 1,945 people have allegedly died of Covid-19 in Philadelphia this entire year.

It is interesting to compare the responses.

Let’s take this year first: The government recently “ordered” all Thanksgiving gatherings (and other gatherings), public and private, canceled in the city. In addition, as of Friday, all restaurants, bars and gyms must close to indoor business until at least January 1. While real estate transactions, banks, day care centers are permitted to continue, churches will be limited to five percent occupancy.

Given the much higher death toll in 1918, was Thanksgiving canceled that year? Were restaurants, bars and churches closed?

Yes, businesses and churches were closed, but only in October.

In November, there were crowded celebrations throughout the city, including public gatherings in forty-four of the city’s parks. People were overjoyed, of course, at the war’s end, but still you would think they would have been afraid of the flu.

By the way, the presence of a contagious influenza has never been verified by medical science in either case.

Here is a newspaper clipping from The Philadelphia Inquirer of Friday, Nov. 29, 1918:

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