Speaking on the 1918 pandemic, USF History Professor Dr. Jackson reflected that “college campuses across the United States were deeply affected by the 1918 pandemic, which only compounded the challenges of managing through the First World War. Sioux Falls College actually shut down completely for a few weeks.” Quarantining is most definitely not a new idea, as well as shut-downs and precautions. Morale and ideas surrounding pandemics can shift from century to century, but Jackson shared how some are relatively the same. “Pandemics have had devastating impacts on human societies throughout history, and there are some recognizable patterns. Fear, isolation, and ‘scapegoating’ are unfortunately typical reactions to pandemics. Pandemics have a way of exposing pre-existing fault lines within societies, and of hitting the most vulnerable and marginalized groups hardest. In that broad sense, the Covid-19 pandemic and the 1918 Flu outbreak are similar.” Sternburg also shared many documents regarding morale around the pandemic of the time, some with differing opinions on how to handle it. Medically, however, the response to COVID-19 is different from the 1918 Flu pandemic. Jackson said that because of an improvement in medical technology and knowledge, “effective treatments can be developed far more rapidly and spread more broadly than ever before…and then to have wildly effective vaccines within about a year of the initial cases is an astonishing feat of modern medical science, unrivalled in history.” Sternburg and Jackson both agreed about the importance of documenting history, including the history we are living through. “I have been so conscious of this over the past year where it was crystal clear that we were all living through a historical moment of change. Understanding how everyone--and I do mean everyone, not just so-called ‘important’ or ‘influential’ people--dealt with the immense challenges posed by Covid-19 is vital for an accurate representation of the past.” Jackson then shared something that everyone can do to preserve and be a part of history. “Help out future historians, and safeguard your journals, correspondence, and any other documents you can!”
photos courtesy of Annie Sternburg
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