While the Great War significantly impacted the United States, our brief entry in the war dulled the effects, especially when compared to other nations involved. However, by October 1918 the United States, like many nations around the world, was already seeing the impact of the outbreak and rapid spread of the influenza virus. According to the numbers printed here, 82,306 Americans died from influenza from September 14th to November 10th compared to 27,789 Americans that had died overseas.

It is easy to recognize historic patterns in trends in the present and apply them to people living in the past. Communities and cities had already been curtailing the outbreak's impact as much as possible in the form of information and awareness, closures and postponements, and what we would call today distancing measures.The end of the war resulted in widespread celebrations and parades that were likely premature, the timing of which coincided with the end of the second wave and beginning of the third wave by the start of 1919. However, according to this article from the November 28th edition of the Herald and Tribune, Americans were already aware of the devastation of the influenza pandemic and recognized that it was already more dangerous for Americans than the Great War had been. They were already aware in real time that they were witnessing two singularly devastating events and trying to understand their impact as much as possible.