Changes

The pandemic of 1889-1890 is largely forgotten today. However, for historians, it was the first true modern pandemic because the way it spread and how it was reported. Within weeks, once the pandemic reached Saint Petersburg, Europe and North America became affected. Reporting of the pandemic was also constant, with newspapers carrying daily death tolls and infection rates, while also reporting what was happening in other countries. This enabled this pandemic to be monitored globally, for the first time, while researchers still use this pandemic to offer clues as and model its spread to better understand how influenza pandemics develop. Similar to today, politicians were often slow to respond, while certain newspapers downplayed the effects of the pandemic, likening it to a more common cold rather than a deadly strain of influenza. There were some long-term benefits, including better health testing that developed soon after this pandemic, as government spending led to the creation of some of the first labs dedicated to infectious disease using public money. Politically, the pandemic killed rich and poor, resulting in the realization of greater emphasis on public spaces and the need to improve sanitation. Most governments survived politically, although many were blamed. In the United States, there were important congressional changes in power, which in part could have resulted from the slow response to the pandemic, even though there was ample warning the pandemic would hit the United States.