Professor of History of Medicine, University of Michigan.
![Alexander Navarro photo](https://www.michiganmedicine.org/sites/default/files/styles/rounded_1_1/public/blog/AlexanderNavarroPhoto.jpg?h=082b738d&itok=-D4Utxju)
![](https://www.michiganmedicine.org/sites/default/files/styles/card/public/blog/summer2021_history-teaser.jpg?h=425bcc98&itok=FI1SYXII)
Medicine at Michigan
People paid a price for prematurely celebrating the end of the 1918 flu pandemic.
![1918 crowd in public area with trolleys in black and white](https://www.michiganmedicine.org/sites/default/files/styles/card/public/blog/1918-Crowd-Public-Trolley-BlackandWhite.jpg?h=bfaa3d24&itok=wBJttOjX)
Health Lab
The deadly third wave of the 1918 flu shows what can happen when society prematurely returns to pre-pandemic life, a medical historian cautions.
![policeman in seattle in 1918 wearing masks](https://www.michiganmedicine.org/sites/default/files/styles/card/public/blog/policeman_in_seattle_in_1918_wearing_masks.jpg?h=bfaa3d24&itok=tJbg8jvF)
Health Lab
The last pandemic killed around 675,000 people in the U.S. alone. Widespread acceptance of cloth face coverings could help to stop history from repeating itself today.
![old hospital beds lined up](https://www.michiganmedicine.org/sites/default/files/styles/card/public/blog/hospitals_beds.jpg?h=bfaa3d24&itok=MBU1kDyp)
Health Lab
A medical historian says striking similarities exist between how we reacted a century ago, and how we’re responding now.