Here are some key highlights of how the Spanish flu ultimately ended, and how it might correlate to the COVID-19 pandemic. History says the Spanish flu lasted from February 1918 until April 1920, but there wasn’t a definitive statement that the pandemic was over, according to Time. Of course, by then, the Spanish flu did unspeakable damage, infecting 500 million people and killing 50 million. With technology and research being nowhere close to what it is now, there was no waiting around for a vaccine to help quell the Spanish flu. That might have been the case with the Spanish flu, as people’s tolerance to the disease and willingness to social distance, wash hands and wear masks throughout increased.

With all due respect to Charles Dickens, this is a tale of how two cities handled a health crisis via social distancing, with opposite results. Days later, hospitals in the area were filled with patients suffering or dying from the Spanish flu. On the other side of the ledger, things were way different in St. Louis. After detecting its first cases of the Spanish flu in the community, St. Louis closed buildings such as schools, churches, courtrooms and libraries. The Spanish flu was nothing to mess around with, since ultimately, an estimated 20 to 50 million people died after contracting the virus.