Does it Help?

As the coronavirus situation continues to evolve, UMKC administration continues to meet, assess, and plan. The UMKC coronavirus resources page asks us to each do our part to minimize risk and promote the UMKC Culture of Care. St Louis survived the 1918-1919 Influenza Pandemic with far fewer deaths than other cities because city officials closed schools and limited public gatherings – early and at the same time [read more].

The 1918-1919 Influenza Pandemic affected more than 500 million people world wide and at least 50 million died (Bristow, 2016). While a global calamity, it also remains the largest recorded pandemic with data about non-pharmaceutical interventions. In 2007, a group of scholars analyzed data from U.S. cities and several different interventions using theoretical modeling.  

Through theoretical modeling, the researchers found that non-pharmaceutical interventions However, a growing body of theoretical modeling research suggests that non-pharmaceutical interventions boosted health and stretched out the timeframe of the influenza pandemic, and reduced the number of deaths. One of the reasons for these outcomes was the decreased strain on medical systems and critical infrastructure. One of the cities with the most benefits from non-pharmaceutical interventions was St. Louis, Missouri, which implemented interventions early and with layered strategies. St Louis closed school for 10 weeks and simultaneously cancelled public gatherings at each wave of the pandemic. This resulted in a reduction of approximately 50% of lives lost to the flu.  

Many things have changed over the past 100 years. Education and social gathering is still a big part of our lives. Studies such as this are not predictive, but, they do show us that these strategies have worked in the past at an equally large scale.