Health
History Isn’t Entirely Repeating Itself in Covid’s Aftermath
Five years after Covid-19 shut down activities all over the world, medical historians sometimes struggle to place the pandemic in context.
What, they are asking, should this ongoing viral threat be compared with?
Is Covid like the 1918 flu, terrifying when it was raging but soon relegated to the status of a long-ago nightmare?
Is it like polio, vanquished but leaving in its wake an injured but mostly unseen group of people who suffer long-term health consequences?
Or is it unique in the way it has spawned a widespread rejection of public health advice and science itself, attitudes that some fear may come to haunt the nation when the next major illness arises?
Some historians say it is all of the above, which makes Covid stand out in the annals of pandemics.
In many ways, historians say, the Covid pandemic — which the World Health Organization declared on March 11, 2020 — reminds them of the 1918 flu. Both were terrifying, killing substantial percentages of the population, unlike, say, polio or Ebola or H.I.V., terrible as those illnesses were.
The 1918 flu killed 675,000 people out of a U.S. population of 103 million, or 65 out of every 10,000. Covid has so far killed about 1,135,000 Americans out of a population of 331.5 million, or 34 out of every 10,000.
Both pandemics dominated the news every day while they raged. And both were relegated to the back of most people’s minds as the numbers of infections and deaths fell.
J. Alexander Navarro, a medical historian at the University of Michigan, said that in the fall of 1918, when the nation was in the throes of the deadliest wave of the 1918 flu, “newspapers were chock-full of stories about influenza, detailing daily case tallies, death tolls, edicts and recommendations issued by officials.”
During the next year, the virus receded. And so did the nation’s attention.
There were no memorials for flu victims, no annual days of remembrance.
“The nation simply moved on,” Dr. Navarro said.
Much the same thing happened with Covid, historians say, although it took longer for the virus’s harshest effects to recede.
Most people live as though the threat is gone, with deaths a tiny fraction of what they once were.
In the week of Feb. 15, 273 Americans died of Covid. In the last week of 2021, 10,476 Americans died from Covid.
Interest in the Covid vaccine has plummeted, too. Now just “a measly 23 percent of adults” have gotten the updated vaccine, Dr. Navarro noted.
Remnants of Covid remain — lasting financial effects, lags in educational achievement, casual dress, Zoom meetings, a desire to work from home. But few think of Covid as they go about their daily lives.
Dora Vargha, a medical historian at the University of Exeter, noted that there had been no ongoing widespread effort to memorialize Covid deaths. Instead, with Covid, “people disappeared into hospitals and never came out.”
Now it is only their friends and families who remember.
Dr. Vargha called that response understandable. People, she said, do not want to be “dragged back” into memories of those Covid years.
But some, like those suffering from long Covid, can’t forget. In that sense, she sees parallels with other pandemics that, unlike the 1918 flu, left a swath of people who were permanently affected.
People who contracted paralytic polio in the 1950s described themselves to Dr. Vargha as “the dinosaurs,” reminders of the time before the vaccine, when the virus was killing or paralyzing children.
Every pandemic has its dinosaurs, she said. They are the Zika babies living with microcephaly. They are the people, often at the margins of society, who develop AIDS.They are the people who contract tuberculosis.
But despite the pleas from those who cannot forget Covid and who seek more research, more empathy, more attention, the more pervasive attitude is, “We don’t need to care anymore,” said Mary Fissell, a historian at Johns Hopkins University.
That sounds so callous, and yet, said Dr. Barron Lerner, a historian at NYU Langone Health, in the world of public health “there are always people who are left behind — damaged or still at risk.”
“It’s hurtful” for people to be shunted aside, Dr. Lerner said. “Their lives are altered. The attention you feel their situation warrants is downplayed.”
But, he added, “on a realistic basis, there are any number of things to study.” Resources are limited, he noted, adding, “it can make sense to move on.”
One aspect of the Covid pandemic, though, is still with the nation, and seems to be part of a new reality: It has markedly changed attitudes toward public health.
Kyle Harper, a historian at the University of Oklahoma, said he would give the biomedical response to Covid an A-plus. “The rollout of vaccines was incredible,” he said.
But, he said, “I would give the social response a C-minus.”
Dr. Lerner had the same thought.
Few medical experts, he said, expected so much resistance to measures like masks, quarantines, social distancing and — when they became available — vaccines and vaccine mandates.
With Covid, he said, “compared to other pandemics, the amount of pushback to standard public health practices was remarkable.”
“That sets Covid apart,” he said. Public health measures that had worked in the past were rejected.
Some of the pushback was reasonable, he said, like objections to wearing masks outdoors. But the spurning of public health measures was widespread and politicized.
Dr. Navarro agreed and said the contrast with 1918 was striking.
“In 1918, there was an abiding respect for science and medicine that seems lacking today,” he said. There were pockets of resistance to measures like masking and avoiding large groups. But for the most part, he said, people complied with public health advice. And compliance was divorced from politics.
World War I also played a role in the messaging, Dr. Navarro said, which may have bolstered adherence.
“Public health orders and recommendations often purposely used the same language that was used to drum up support for the war effort,” Dr. Navarro said. The authorities, for example, asked people “to cover their coughs and sneezes so as not to gas their fellow citizens as the doughboys were being gassed by the Germans.”
Dr. Lerner contrasted the Covid response to the response to the polio vaccine.
The polio vaccine underwent preliminary testing, and then widespread testing, in the 1950s, with broad public acceptance.
With Covid, “faith in the scientific process got lost,” Dr. Lerner said.
That does not bode well for the next pandemic, Dr. Harper said.
“There’s going to be another pandemic,” he said. “And if we have to fight it without public trust, that’s the worst possible response.”
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Oprah Winfrey is shining a light on family estrangement, which she calls “one of the fastest-growing cultural shifts of our time” — but one expert says the media mogul helped fuel that very culture.
“A Cornell University study now shows that almost one-third of Americans are actively estranged from a family member,” Winfrey said on a recent episode of “The Oprah Podcast,” referring to adult children going “no-contact” with parents, siblings or entire family systems.
Winfrey said the trend is a “silent epidemic” that can be especially relevant during the holidays.
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But family and relationship coach Tania Khazaal, who focuses on fighting “cutoff culture,” took to social media to criticize Winfrey for acting as if the estrangement crisis appeared “out of thin air.”
“Now Oprah is shocked by the aftermath of estrangement, after being one of the biggest voices pushing it for decades,” Canada-based Khazaal said in an Instagram video, which drew more than 27,000 likes and 3,000 comments.
Oprah Winfrey recently discussed what she called a “silent epidemic” of family estrangement on her podcast. (Theo Wargo/Getty Images)
Khazaal claimed that Winfrey’s messaging started in the 1990s and has contributed to a cultural shift where walking away became the first resort, not the last.
According to the relationship coach, millennials, some of whom grew up watching Oprah, are the leading demographic cutting off family members — and even if it wasn’t intentional, “the effect has absolutely been harmful,” Khazaal told Fox News Digital.
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The coach, who has her own history with estrangement, questioned why Winfrey is now treating the issue as a surprising crisis.
“Now she hosts a discussion with estranged parents and estranged kids, speaking on estrangement like it’s some hidden, sudden, heartbreaking epidemic that she had no hand in,” she said in her video.
Nearly one-third of Americans are estranged from a family member, research shows. (iStock)
Khazaal said she believes discussions about estrangement are necessary, but insists that people shouldn’t “rewrite history.”
“Estrangement isn’t entertainment or a trending conversation piece,” she added. “It’s real families, real grief, parents dying without hearing their child’s voice.”
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Winfrey reportedly responded in the comments, writing, “Happy to have a conversation about it — but not on a reel. Will have my producer contact you if you’re interested.” But the comment was later deleted due to the backlash it received, Khazaal told Fox News Digital.
“I would still be open to that discussion,” Khazaal said. “The first thing I’d want her to understand is simple: Setting aside cases of abuse or danger, the family unit is the most sacred structure we have.”
Experts emphasize that estrangement should be a last resort. (iStock)
“When children lose their sense of belonging at home, they search for it in the outside world,” she added. “That’s contributing to the emotional fragility we’re seeing today.”
Her critique ignited a debate online, with some social media users saying Khazaal is voicing a long-overdue concern.
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“The first time I heard, ‘You can love them from a distance’ was from Oprah … in the ’90s,” one woman said.
“My son estranged himself from us for five years,” one mother commented. “The pain, hurt and damage never goes away.”
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Others, however, argued that Winfrey’s podcast episode was empathetic and that estrangement shouldn’t be oversimplified.
Mental health experts say the conversation around estrangement is more complex than any single celebrity influence, and reflects broader cultural shifts.
Experts say today’s focus on boundaries and emotional well-being has reshaped family expectations. (iStock)
In the episode with Winfrey, Joshua Coleman, a California-based psychologist, said, “The old days of ‘honor thy mother and thy father,’ ‘respect thy elders’ and ‘family is forever’ has given way to much more of an emphasis on personal happiness, personal growth, my identity, my political beliefs, my mental health.”
Coleman noted that therapists sometimes become “detachment brokers” by unintentionally green-lighting estrangement.
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Jillian Amodio, a licensed master’s social worker at the Maryland-based Waypoint Wellness Center, told Fox News Digital that while public figures like Winfrey help normalize these conversations, estrangement might just be a more openly discussed topic now.
“Estrangement used to be handled privately and quietly,” she said.
Winfrey’s take on family estrangement is prompting a broader discussion amid the holiday season. (iStock)
But even strained relationships can be fixed with the right support, experts say.
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Susan Foosness, a North Carolina-based clinical director of patient programs at Rula Health, said families can strengthen their relationships by working with a mental health professional to improve communication, learn healthier conflict-resolution skills, and build trust and empathy through quality time together.
“No family is perfect,” Foosness told Fox News Digital.
Khazaal agreed, saying, “Parents need to learn how to listen without slipping into justification, and children need help speaking about their pain without defaulting to blame or avoidance.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Winfrey for comment.
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South Carolina is facing a major measles outbreak, resulting in the quarantine of hundreds of residents.
The South Carolina Department of Health (DPH) reported in a media briefing on Wednesday that the current number of measles cases has reached 111 as part of the current Spartanburg County outbreak.
DPH first reported a measles outbreak in the Upstate region on Oct. 2.
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The health department confirmed that 254 people are currently in quarantine and 16 are in isolation to prevent further spread.
The health department confirmed that 254 people are currently in quarantine in the upstate region. (Getty Images)
“This significant jump in cases is unfortunate,” a DPH spokesperson commented on the outbreak.
Public exposure was identified at Inman Intermediate School, with 43 of their students in quarantine.
“This significant jump in cases is unfortunate.”
Eight other intermediate and middle schools in the area are also reportedly undergoing quarantine. The DPH said multiple students have had to quarantine twice due to repeat exposure.
“Vaccination continues to be the best way to prevent the disruption that measles is causing to people’s education, to employment and other factors in people’s lives and our communities,” the spokesperson said.
“This significant jump in cases is unfortunate,” a DPH spokesperson commented on the current outbreak. (iStock)
Out of the 111 confirmed cases, 105 were unvaccinated. Receiving a vaccination within 72 hours has been shown to prevent measles infection, the DPH spokesperson noted.
Some cases are related to travel exposure, while others are from an unknown source, suggesting that measles is circulating in the community, the DPH noted.
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Connecticut has also reported its first measles case in four years, according to the Connecticut Department of Public Health.
The department confirmed on Thursday that an unvaccinated child in Fairfield County, under the age of 10, was diagnosed with measles after recently traveling internationally.
“Vaccination continues to be the best way to prevent the disruption that measles is causing,” a DPH spokesperson said. (iStock)
The child began to show symptoms several days later, including a runny nose, cough, congestion, fever and a rash starting at the head and spreading to the rest of the body.
The Connecticut DPH noted that measles is “highly contagious” and can spread quickly through the air via coughing or sneezing. The CDC has estimated that nine out of 10 unvaccinated individuals who encounter an infected person will develop the measles virus.
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According to the International Vaccine Access Center, more than 1,800 cases of measles have been reported in 2025, which is the most since the U.S. declared the virus eliminated in 2000. It is also the most cases recorded in three decades.
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“The single best way to protect your children and yourself from measles is to be vaccinated,” DPH Commissioner Manisha Juthani, M.D., wrote in a statement. “One dose of measles vaccine is about 93% effective, while two doses are about 97% effective.”
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