Huge difference to Spanish Flu is that at that time we did not have antibiotics and most people did not die from the flu, but from pneumonia caused by a bacterial superinfection. Thanks to Alexander Fleming and other great researchers we can treat bacterial infections quite well now, so the corona virus would have to be a lot more lethal than the Spanish Flu to cause the same number of deaths.
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Huge difference to Spanish Flu is that at that time we did not have antibiotics and most people did not die from the flu, but from pneumonia caused by a bacterial superinfection. Thanks to Alexander Fleming and other great researchers we can treat bacterial infections quite well now, so the corona virus would have to be a lot more lethal than the Spanish Flu to cause the same number of deaths.
Not to mention a brutal world war. I can't think of a worse time to have a pandemic.
A̶n̶t̶i̶b̶i̶o̶t̶i̶c̶s̶ ̶w̶o̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶h̶e̶l̶p̶ ̶w̶i̶t̶h̶ ̶C̶O̶V̶I̶D̶-̶1̶9̶,̶ ̶b̶u̶t̶ ̶w̶e̶ ̶h̶a̶v̶e̶ ̶a̶ ̶l̶o̶t̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶a̶n̶t̶i̶v̶i̶r̶a̶l̶s̶ ̶n̶o̶w̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶m̶a̶y̶ ̶h̶e̶l̶p̶,̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶m̶u̶c̶h̶ ̶h̶i̶g̶h̶e̶r̶ ̶s̶t̶a̶n̶d̶a̶r̶d̶s̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶c̶a̶r̶e̶.̶
Edit: Thanks for the correction below, I misunderstood why antibiotics could be of help.
I think his thesis is that the 1918 flu allowed co-infection with bacterial pneumonia which could probably be treated today.