The world is at a low ebb due to the recent outbreak of coronavirus – people are dying, economy plunging, and governments becoming impotent. But none of this is happening for the first time; it has happened before and is happening once again.
Nahl Ishtiaq
Islamabad
When people say common flu kills more people on a daily basis than has this nascent coronavirus in the past few months, why do they forget that coronavirus is a flu too – just perhaps an exceptional one. And while corona is an uncommon flu; pandemics as such have been quite common a happening all through human history. Russian flu, Spanish flu, Asian flu – are some to name. Such pandemics hold a historical anecdote of influencing present amidst shaping future. Pandemics all along have contributed to significant social changes and political implications ranging from hyped up tensions between government and public; to brought forth realist side of humans i.e. selfishness; to discrimination; to fear; to economic repercussion; and whatnot. They transformed societies, countries, economies, and therefore are important.
Humanity usually progressed incessantly until it had to be impeded by the emergence of an alien pandemic. Natural calamities and pandemics have left humanity aversely helpless before mother nature almost all the time. And probably that indicates humans can’t really fight nature; more precisely death and destruction. Pandemics and calamities are just excuse, and yeah, they do their job on a mass scale and that’s why are’ our concern. Even if we cannot do anything about them, we try and that matters.
Throughout history, the occurrence of pandemics has been rather sporadical. Viruses have accounted for most of these pandemics. While it is true that they exist alongside humans and make an important composition of natural ecosystem, they could emerge to be dreadfully problematic when done mischief with— intentionally or unintentionally. Humans in their strive for development forget that there exists life outside theirs too and they need not be disturbed because when once that happens it brings jinx for everyone.
Viral pandemics have been a thing for long as humans began to live in communities some 10,000 years ago (shift to agrian life from hunter-gatherer days), but they become a frequent occurring not long ago when human travelled quite frequently and quite efficiently. Important to note is: modernity did more to enable such pandemics than to encounter them. So when we say what is it that pandemics are still deadly, we forget this aspect that they are actually the outcome of human actions that go against nature which cause problems than the other way round.
Coronavirus is no different, but the speed with which it spread across different regions sure is. So far coronavirus has killed 5000 people, infected countless, been able to lock down cities, close down school, colleges, public spaces, suspend football leagues – kind of bringing earth to a standstill. While there is hard trying to contain it, which will surely bear fruit and we will reach solution hopefully, but by then enough people will already be dead and that will be reminder of nature works in mysterious ways.
If anything, this pandemic was as certain to happen as any of its counterparts in the past; is as deadly; and we’ are just as incapable. Human ingenious has limit and these pandemics seem to define that limit always. History is witness to these pandemics bringing human civilizations down since long before coronavirus, but hope lies in the fact that it never meant the end to it.
One of the deadliest pandemic globe had to incur happened in 1350. Black Death – as deadly as it sounds, shook the humanity and took away as many people as one-third of the world’s population. According to some estimates, the world population dropped down from 475 Million to 360 million. Black Death, also called as Great Bubonic Plague, originated in Asia but spread around to cover most of the earth facet affecting Europe the most. This great pandemic is also believed to have made the way for Britain and France (greatest rivals of the time) to sign truce. Conventional wisdom also has that even if Black Death did not quite end feudalism; it did initiate and accelerate the process.
Followed it happened the same great plague at unusual intervals accompanied by Cholera afterwards (yet another deadly pandemic that reduced the world’s population to a significant degree). Fast forward to flus that began to become pandemics in the late 19th century and now pretty much define how modern pandemics have been like.
The significant Russian flu (1889)— another pandemic, found its origin in Central Asia, spread through Moscow to Europe to swiftly crossing oceans and entering Africa to the south and States in the north. This pandemic travelled comparatively faster than its earlier counterparts, however did not become as deadly as one would have hoped, and induced 360,000 total deaths. Then came the avian-borne Spanish Flu (1918). Accounting for 50 million dead and 500 million infected worldwide, it was the deadliest of all. The flu apparently originated in China, transmitted to America by Chinese laborers, and from there came to Europe and then to Spain which became its hardest hit, ergo eventually leading to its popular name.
Later on came Asian Flu (1957), founded in Hong Kong, spread to China, then through United States, it entered Europe where it became widespread resulting in 1.1 million deaths world over. Interestingly enough, if any commonality one can find amongst these pandemics usually those that have been really deadly is that they began from somewhere in East Asia, travelled across Europe – and that’s where they did the most harm. With all that said and amid all this apocalypse debate, important is to remember that pandemics come and go, they do not mean end to nothing— neither humanity nor universe. This is a hard time and we will pass it as did civilizations prior to us.
