Hospitals were overloaded and there was a shortage of doctors and other health workers. Communities were quarantined, people were required to wear masks and public places, such as schools, churches and theatres were shut down.
Apart from the obvious similarities between Coronavirus and Spanish Flu and how the world reacted, my interest was actually sparked by some beautiful and haunting colourised images featured in an article by Jon Rogers in The Sun newspaper. Although, not one for normally picking up writing material from these sources, I found the images particularly poignant. It was not just the beauty of the photographs that caught my eye but also the similarity of the circumstances facing the world in 1918 and our own current challenges in facing and beating Covid-19.
From images of normal people trying to go about their normal business, to harrowing images of many occupied beds in hospital to key workers doing their job.

Spanish Flu Colourised Image 1

Spanish Flu Colourised Image 2

Spanish Flu Colourised Image 3

Spanish Flu Colourised Image 4

Spanish Flu Colourised Image 5
References
ROGERS, Jon. 2020. Fascinating Colourised Spanish Flu Photos Reveal How Coronavirus Pandemic is Eerily Similar 100 Years on. The Sun Newspaper, 6 May 2020. [Accessed on 7 May 2020]
https://www.thesun.ie/news/5401839/spanish-flu-photographs-coronavirus-pandemic/
