Unravelling COVID-19 Through Spanish Flu Lens Psycho-Social Analysis Shalini's

Abstract

Dr. Anthony Stephen Fauci, an American physician and immunologist working for National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and one of the pilot members of the Trump Administration's White House Corona virus Task Force address the COVID-19 pandemic in United States stated that the corona virus is a pandemic of 'historic proportions' and has the probable to be as hazardous as the 1918 Spanish flu.Though researchers still have a lot to discover about COVID-19,itsbeginning, spreading, contagiousness and deadliness makes it comparable to 1918 Flu Pandemic. This paperdraws an analogy between the pandemics set apart from each other by almost a century. The world of 1918 is visited in John M. Barrys account ofThe Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History and the modern society equipped with advanced technology and science is brought to light through the documentaries and articles surrounding a world dealing with COVID-19. The vital elements are the psychological effects of a pandemic surrounding the patients and their family, fear of isolation during lockdown period, panic among the public, desperation of the scientists, confusion related to uncertainty of the future, helplessness of the doctors, terror of the virus, and the horror of death. While many heroic warriors perish in this fight against the virus, they bind the collapsing humanity with the scanty hope of healing the world.