Letter from Belleau Wood is a novel set in the time of the 1918 flu pandemic. Kirkus considers it a touch tale of young love. It contains up-close pictures of the suffering families, and college students experienced. "There are strong parallels between the COVID-19 pandemic and the 1918 flu pandemic, considered to be the deadliest of the 20th century."
Because of the parallels of the two pandemics, reading Letter from Belleau Wood provides insights into what people are enduring.
"The 1918 flu took a heavy toll. Entire families were wiped out and those who survived were widowed or orphaned. There was a significant economic impact as well. The pandemic finally ebbed after a third wave by the summer of 1919. It is believed the flu strain became so widespread that a level of herd immunity developed. That herd immunity came at a considerable cost in lives.
"Medicine and science have come a long way since then, but few lessons were learned from 1918. Vaccines for COVID-19 were developed fairly rapidly, but not before a huge loss of life, economic devastation and the suspension of normal life. New virus variants, considered more infectious, have shown up, complicating the ability to contain the pandemic. The challenge now is managing a surging crisis while ramping up production of vaccines and an effective vaccination program."
Comparing and contrasting the coronavirus and 1918 flu pandemics through images (msn.com)
