Rather than read the alarmist news stories, I found it instructive to read the
CDC's article on the 1918 "Spanish Flu" pandemic which killed 50-100 million people. After 75 years of study, it is surprising how little is really known about that flu event. And this may be the reason that world health organizations are so wary about the current developing flu wave...they just don't know how bad it might become.
But one thing is known about 1918 (and may be behind talk of JWOC cancellation), unlike most flu outbreaks, which have killed only the very young and very old (a U-curve), that one exhibited a W-curve, killing an enormous number of people in the 15-34 age range.
...Influenza and pneumonia death rates for those 15-34 years of age in 1918-1919, for example, were >20 times higher than in previous years...Overall, nearly half of the influenza-related deaths in the 1918 pandemic were in young adults 20-40 years of age, a phenomenon unique to that pandemic year...