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Comment by Aloha | Hacker News Reader

Bear in mind, another 1918 like flu will come - and even modern medicine is basically helpless to stop it - we just know better how to treat it.

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There is a flu almost every year. And we're pretty good at making vaccines. A couple of years ago there was a "training" in Sweden where every citizen was called in for mass vaccination. You didn't have to take it, but most people did. First medicine personnel, then pregnant, children and elders, then everyone else. If there is a dangerous flue like the Spanish Flu again, this is probably what will happen.

I'm surprised they don't mail the injections out instead of requiring people to assemble (a great place to spread disease).

The movie Contagion was partially set where I live in Minnesota - it contained depictions of people assembling for food, vaccines, treatment, and mass burial. Seeing local landmarks in the movie made it feel very real and made me think more about emergency preparedness.

Exactly, we have knowledge now and this knowledge will help us - everyone has heard of the swine flu for instance

The 1976 Swine Flu[0] is not a vaccination success story.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swine_influenza#1976_U.S._outb...

With global instant communication we could now can quarantine ourselves in our homes universally and on very short notice.

We can, yes. However, many people will not have the decency and self-restraint to actually do so, I fear.

This - you see many people clogging up GP surgeries in the UK with suspected flu, instead of doing the right thing and staying home, staying hydrated and taking paracetamol. It puts people who are also visiting the doctor for conditions where they have a compromised immune system, young children, pregnancy etc. at far greater risk. All the doctor is going to say is "yeah, you've got the flu, stay home, drink water and take paracetamol".

or the ability for money reasons.

Global instant communication is why we will all die. One person who knows what he’s talking about will be drowned out by fifty naysayers shouting fake news.

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