Gruber, an assistant professor of public health studies and epidemiologist, talked with reporter Bob Buckley about the similarities and differences between the two pandemics.
A recent FOX8 WGHP report on similarities and differences between the current COVID-19 global pandemic and the 1918 influenza pandemic that killed hundreds of millions worldwide featured insights from Joann Gruber, an assistant professor of public health studies and an epidemiologist who previously worked with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The two segments titled “” and “” on the station’s Buckley Report featured Gruber, who helped explain the different tools the public health and health care systems now have at their disposal to help address the pandemic.
鈥淎 lot of people in 1918 died of secondary bacterial infections. We didn鈥檛 have antibiotics in 1918,鈥 told FOX8’s Bob Buckley.聽 鈥淲e have IV fluids. We have all these treatments if you do get sick.聽Think about our masks鈥e have N-95 medical masks, and you can get these now. They鈥檙e not just for health workers anymore because we鈥檙e not in a shortage.鈥
Gruber noted that the response today combines a number of different measures to help prevent the spread of the virus, and that that “all in” approach could come in useful in future pandemics.
鈥淵ou isolate sick people. Maybe you use quarantine. Maybe you use testing. Maybe you use masking, depending if it鈥檚 a respiratory disease or not,鈥 Gruber said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not either/or when we鈥檙e thinking about interventions because it鈥檚 the combined effect that can really prevent disease spread.鈥
Some today are opposed to the measures put in place in response to the pandemic, and Gruber said that was the case in 1918, too.
“People didn’t like being told what to do,” Gruber told Buckley. “People didn’t like having their churches or their schools shut down. There were anti-mask leagues in 1918.”
Watch the full segments and .