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Pandemic information1. What is a Pandemic?2. Have there been pandemics prior to the Coronavirus Pandemic of 2020?3. When did scientists finally determine that illnesses like the Coronavirus and common flu are transmitted by person to person contact? The Pandemic of 1889From America’s vantage in 1889, the Russian influenza posed little cause for concern. So what if it had struck with a vengeance in the Russian capital of St. Petersburg that fall, infecting as much as half the population? Or that it had raged swiftly eastward across Europe, into the British Isles? Or that some of the continent’s most prominent leaders—the czar of Russia, the king of Belgium, the emperor of Germany—had fallen ill with the virus?To Americans, it was safely over there, a vast ocean away.But within a few months, the pandemic spread to virtually every part of the earth. Tracing its path, scientists would observe that it tended to follow the major roads, rivers and, most notably, railway lines—many of which hadn’t existed during the last major pandemic in the 1840s. That finding gave credence to the theory that the disease was spread by human contact, not by the wind or other means—and that as long as people could move with ease from city to city and country to country, stopping its spread would be all but impossible. Today, the Russian influenza is often cited as the first modern flu pandemic.Although Covid 19 is new, our 2020 pandemic is NOT unique. Pandemics no doubt have been occurring as long as people have been mobile enough to travel from one city or country to another. Some have been deadly. The Spanish flu pandemic of 1917/18 killed millions. Let’s hope that the current pandemic passes quickly with little loss of life.Let’s hope and pray that none of us are infected by this virus. To that end, keep your hands clean, stop touching your face, and keep your distance from other people. The 2020 Pandemic is a great study in geography. Tracing its origin, calculating the number of people infected, following the disease as it moved from one country to another in rapid succession, and witnessing its effects on not only health but on government and economics has been very educational. Below is a chart produced on Sunday, March 29, showing the countries with the most Coronavirus infections. 136,880 United States | pop. 327M97,689 Italy | pop. 60.6M82,122 China | pop. 1.4B *country of origin, 1st care reported early December, 201978,799 Spain | pop. 47M61,164 Germany | pop. 83M40,704 France | pop. 65M38,309 Iran | pop. 82M19,772 United Kingdom | pop. 67M14,829 Switzerland | pop. 8.5M10,930 Netherlands | pop. 17MTo Think About: 1. Where did the Covid 19 Coronavirus outbreak begin?2. By what means did the virus spread worldwide so quickly?3. What can I do to minimize the chance of becoming infected?4. Will there be future pandemics, and if so, how deadly will they be?5. How can we be better prepared for the next pandemic than we were for the 2020 pandemic?6. Make sure that you can locate on a world map the countries included in the chart above.FOR THOSE WHO ARE INTERESTED IN HISTORY… While U.S. presidents have had many things named after them—schools, highways, airports—John Tyler, the 10th president, who served from 1841 to 1845, got an epidemic named for him.At the time, influenza was often referred to by its French name, 'La Grippe.' When an outbreak hit during Tyler’s term, his political opponents started calling it the 'Tyler grippe.' Unfortunately for him, the name stuck. (This epidemic may not have been a pandemic. Do you know the difference in these 2 terms?)But Tyler wasn't the first U.S. president to give his name, however unwillingly, to the flu. President Andrew Jackson’s opposition seized on an 1829 outbreak, branding it 'Jackson’s itch.'? ................
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