Chronicle: "Today is 101 years since my grandfather's mother died of Spanish disease"

I've been thinking about her over the years. How did it feel in the last hours? Did she understand that the children would lose their mother? And how did my 7-year-old grandfather survive? Neither I nor 19 other family members had existed if the flu virus had taken him as well. The idea is cheating.

Anna's fate pops up a little more often in my mind now as I follow the spread of the new corona virus around the world. Corona's spread and mortality, however, cannot be compared to Spanish disease. We also live in a completely different time. World War I censorship prevented reporting at the same time as the influenza spread in narrow trenches and with troop movements. Europe's population was marked by the war and susceptible to disease. Today we have advanced healthcare, infection detection and rapid and open dissemination of knowledge.

But the coronavirus rapid progress still scares. It feels strange to have to worry about someone sneezing on one. A little primitive and old-fashioned in some way. That a small crap virus can make us so vulnerable.

We in the media are constantly discussing how much we should report on corona to maintain a sensible balance. Inform without contributing to an alarmist mood. People scream for information but risk interpreting the massive reporting that the danger is much greater than it is.

There is widespread distrust of our authorities on this issue. Maybe a result of how they handled the swine flu 11 years ago. But who should you listen to if not the experts? What is the alternative?

For the risk groups, the fear of corona is justified. Elderly, people with cardiovascular disease, diabetes or chronic respiratory disease. For their sake, we should wash our hands frequently and carefully. Cough in the arm fold. Stop the pill on the face.

I leave the question of home quarantine and school closure to the experts. Personally, I would love to see people who have been at risk zones stay home until they are sure they are not carrying the infection. It feels so unnecessary to help the virus on the stack in its search for new hosts.