The twentieth century witnessed two great influenza pandemics after the devastating and unprecedented one of 1918, namely the “Asian Flu” (...
The twentieth century witnessed two great influenza pandemics after the devastating and unprecedented one of 1918, namely the “Asian Flu” (H2N2) of 1957, which killed about 1.1 million persons across the world, and the so-called Hong Kong Flu (H3N2) of 1968, where the global death toll was at least of the order of 1 million deaths, very largely in the population aged over 65. This latter flu then returned as a seasonal phenomenon in the immediately following years, albeit with a decreased effect and mortality.
What appears striking from at least a rapid perusal of the newspapers of those times is that the political dimension of the pandemics was understated or low-key. This is particularly the case if we compare it with Covid-19, which had apparently claimed around 600,000 victims by mid-July 2020, although the data in most countries is of highly questionable accuracy. It is currently obvious that the eventual toll from this year’s pandemic is set to exceed those of 1957 and 1968.
Moreover, it is already clear that its economic, cultural and political consequences are already of a somewhat different sort. This is to the point that it has led some, like the conservative British philosopher John Gray, to...
