Familiar Echoes: 1918 Atlanta And The Spanish Flu

Closed schools and businesses. No religious services. Face masks in public. That has all happened before; it was more than a century ago when Georgia and the world faced the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic.

It is considered the most severe pandemic in modern history. One-third of the world’s population was infected, and 50 million people died, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

While the two pandemics are nearly 102 years’ worth of scientific advances apart, Atlantans of 1918 were faced with a situation familiar to Atlantans today.