In this November 1918 photo made available by the Library of Congress, a nurse takes the pulse of a patient in the influenza ward of the Walter Reed hospital in Washington. Science has ticked off some major accomplishments over the last century.
In this November 1918 photo made available by the Library of Congress, a nurse takes the pulse of a patient in the influenza ward of the Walter Reed Hospital in Washington. Science has ticked off some major accomplishments over the last century. Associated Press
Herb Scribner
By Herb Scribner

We might never return to a fully new normal — a world without the novel coronavirus. Experts have spoken about that. But we may have to live with the virus in the same way we still feel the effects of the novel strand of influenza in 1918, according to The Washington Post.

Those who contracted the novel coronavirus developed immunity to it.

  • Life returned to normal in the 1920s.
  • The virus likely became less lethal.

But the flu didn’t disappear.

Related
How much does the current pandemic resemble the pandemic of 1918? Quite a bit
  • “The influenza virus continuously mutated, passing through humans, pigs and other mammals. The pandemic-level virus morphed into just another seasonal flu. Descendants of the 1918 H1N1 virus make up the influenza viruses we’re fighting today,” according to The Washington Post.
Related
People hated wearing masks during the last big pandemic, too
It’s the dog days of summer, and these political topics are just as hot
View Comments

Ann Reid, the executive director of the National Center for Science Education, told The Washington Post: “The 1918 flu is still with us, in that sense. It never went away.”

  • Jeffery Taubenberger, an expert from National Institutes of Health, told The Washington Post: “All those pandemics that have happened since — 1957, 1968, 2009 — all those pandemics are derivatives of the 1918 flu. The flu viruses that people get this year, or last year, are all still directly related to the 1918 ancestor.”
Join the Conversation
Looking for comments?
Find comments in their new home! Click the buttons at the top or within the article to view them — or use the button below for quick access.