Television review Anti-science and “longing for freedom” made it harder to fight the pandemic as early as 1918-1920, according to a historical documentary on the Spanish disease

Culture|Television review

Covid-19 virus has so far killed as many as Finland’s population, five and a half million. Nearly all deaths are not recorded in official statistics, but at least we are still a long way from the spread of Spanish disease in 1918, which claimed 25 to 50 million lives.

The reasons for the differences in mortality between pandemics can be found in a French documentary Spanish disease (2021). The events are covered with the help of archival films and maps, and a avalanche of sweeps across the globe is emerging step by step. Images of grief, however, are missing.

The flu wave sets off from a barracks in Kansas, USA, where 30,000 soldiers are training for World War I. The disease is being brought to Europe by soldiers, and for a long time it will be hidden in the face of war censorship. The Spanish disease gets its name a little unfairly from the country where the disease is first prevented.

The obsession with masculinity is opposed to the speech of freedom known even from the present day, and Tanlac laxative and quinine whiskey are used as miracle cures. Sometimes death is accelerated by an overdose of aspirin. There are no vaccines.

In Finland, 20,000 people died of Spanish disease, or about 0.6 per cent of a population of 3.1 million. Now the corresponding proportion would be 35,000 deaths, but the number of victims has been kept below 1,700. Thank you for that in many directions.

History: Spanish disease, TV1 at 7 pm and Yle Areena.