Is COVID-19 as Lethal as the Spanish Flu? The Australian Experience in 1919 and 2020 and the Role of Nonpharmaceutical Interventions (NPIs)
Marika Vicziany,
Leon Piterman,
Naiyana Wattanapenpaiboon
Abstract:We conducted a comparative historical study to interrogate Professor Peter Doherty’s warning to Australians in April 2020 that ‘COVID-19 is just as lethal as the Spanish flu’. We identified the epicentres of both pandemics, namely, metropolitan Sydney in 1919 and metropolitan Melbourne in 2020 and compared the lethality of the Spanish Flu and COVID-19 in these two cities. Lethality was measured by the number and rate of hospital admissions, death rates, age-specific death rates and age-standardised mortality r… Show more
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