Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

"Then there are the less glamorous measures, known as nonpharmaceutical interventions: hand-washing, telecommuting, covering coughs, staying home when sick instead of going to work and, if the pandemic is severe enough, widespread school closings and possibly more extreme controls. The hope is that 'layering' such actions one atop another will reduce the impact of an outbreak on public health and on resources in today's just-in-time economy. But the effectiveness of such interventions will depend on public compliance, and the public will have to trust what it is being told.

"That is why, in my view, the most important lesson from 1918 is to tell the truth. Though that idea is incorporated into every preparedness plan I know of, its actual implementation will depend on the character and leadership of the people in charge when a crisis erupts."

-- historian John M. Barry, (author of "The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History (2004, Viking Press)), "How the Horrific 1918 Flu Spread Across America", Smithsonian magazine, November 2017 [thanks to Sarah Elkins (ConFigures) for quote-tweeting somebody else's link to this article]