I was watching a television show yesterday and the premise of the episode was that a terrorist group had broken into an old abandoned USPHS lab and stole samples of the original strain to use as a biological weapon. It got me thinking, is that particular version of the flu virus still particularly dangerous? I know H1N1 strains are still dangerous and have been responsible for a few more pandemics since the Spanish flu but it seems that we should have some resistance to the strain that caused that pandemic. My reasoning is that it never went away. We didn't beat the Spanish flu with vaccines and health measures rather it just killed pretty much everyone it could and we eventually developed a level of resistance to it that made its threat more in line with the seasonal flu. If my reasoning is correct then the terrorists releasing the virus in the subway shouldn't be any more dangerous that someone with the flu taking the subway to work which is a common occurrence during flu season.
So, how does it actually work? Did we develop a resistance like I think or would a release of the original strain start a new pandemic?
I think it's primarily education. Public education is a big issue in eastern Kentucky in part because it's a big employer and in part because our grandparents pushed it as a way to escape the mines. In contrast with most of the rest of the South churches in eastern Kentucky, especially the Old Regular Baptists, have a strong history of supporting public education. The elementary school I went to was donated by my grandparent's congregation. Both of the Republican governors elected in my lifetime had their political careers ended by attacking education and educators.
I also think pandemic politics was at best a wash in this election. Our older and middle aged voters remember or grew up being told about family members that were severely affected or killed by diseases we vaccinate against now. Eastern Kentucky still has serious issues accessing medical care and takes childhood vaccination seriously. Vaccine denial didn't land here like it did elsewhere. On top of that Kentucky did much better under Beshear than the surrounding states that had more conservative governors and more conservative pandemic policies. The pandemic policies and his Team Kentucky updates are what originally made Beshear one of the most popular governors in the US. He went into the election with an in-state approval rating of about 60%.