In 1918 Chicago's Presbyterian Hospital ran an influenza ward led by the physician James Herrick, who wrote about the epidemic in 1919. He argued that public health measures such as isolating the sick and banning gatherings would spread infections over a longer time, so fewer people would die at once, which is the logic later called flattening the curve. The hospital admitted 9,852 patients in 1918 and recorded 293 deaths, about 3 percent. Herrick used no vaccine or serum, relying on rest, fresh air, light food, and digitalis for heart failure, and he warned doctors against overdrugging.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.