You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more
It is estimated that about 500 million people or one-third of the world’s population became infected with this virus. The number of deaths was estimated to be at least 50 million worldwide with about 675,000 occurring in the United States.
it's interesting, because we have similar stories of people in america then wearing masks and keeping out of public for some time, which means people understood at least roughly how this worked and still chose to return. essential then, or was life just valued differently?
Far fewer people could work from home
the overwhelming majority of americans aren't in tech, and absolutely cannot survive a life like this. they're grappling with the same questions people grappled with in 1918, and in many cases coming to the same conclusions.
An important question. My short answer is: we didn’t have alternatives then. People dealt with horse manure for generations till we had the automobile. Similarly, the pandemic is already catalyzing a hygiene 2.0 movement in Asia based on tech/internet.https://twitter.com/balajis/status/1235029374593687553 …
folks in tech have alternatives (though just as many companies seem to be suffering as are thriving). but the average american can’t work from a laptop. video, delivery, and streaming entertainment are all great, but people want their jobs back. they’re going to demand we return.
I actually do think lives are valued differently. One of the key changes post-1960s: more safety regulations, people stopped smoking, the granola diet, more opposition to war etc. Probably a good thing.
I think the precariousness of life was more keenly felt then, there were many diseases that could kill you, and there was no real welfare state so the choice to work was essentially made for you.https://twitter.com/josephflaherty/status/1254230727761309697 …
Had a family member die in WWI
Had living memory of famine
Had no access to a social safety net – work or die
Already lived in fear of *many* other fatal diseases like tuberculosis, so, YOLO
Very different relation to 
https://twitter.com/balajis/status/1254221920192495617 …Death was more familiar back then. Wasn’t uncommon for a child to see a parent die, for a young adult to see friends and brothers die at war, to witness young and old die of disease; so people lived while they could.
Something like 1/3 of people lived on small farms in 1918 - meaning they essentially worked from home. And they were able to raise a lot of their own food. So going back to 'normal' for them wasn't much different from the pandemic period.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.
