I am currently writing a paper on the ways in which the Spanish flu was described and interpreted theologically in Swedish, christian newspapers. The year 1918, or ''the times'' in general, were typically depicted as incredibly tough even though Sweden was not directly involved in the war. In their internal magazine, the priests of the Church of Sweden struggled with the question of how they could provide moral support when everything seemed to go so terribly. In a ''Letter to the youth'' in the newspaper Församlingsbladet, an author that is not named writes that
''I will never forget a 16-year old boy I encountered. He did not cry, as he was not able to do so, but with the full force of his young, sensitive souls capacity to suffer, his eyes expressed pain over the fact that: -The world is so full of suffering. You are tempted to feel bad about the people born in this time who are not allowed to be young the same way that we in the older generation were, uninhibited in our happiness about the small moments of joy in life, believing that it all was one big, beautiful adventure. ''
A lot of people expressed shock at the fact that issues they thought belonged to the past, such as hunger and war, now had become more threatening than ever. Priests such as Lewis K Johnsson interpreted it as the end of days since all the terrors of the apocalypse according to his analysis were present. However, I would like to note that in the source material I have studied, the pandemic tended to fall into the shadow of the First World War, most often being mentioned as a side note to it. This is also noted by Margareta Åman, a Swedish expert on the Spanish Flu. Even though the pandemic would claim more lives than the war, the world was relatively used to diseases. Cholera, for example, killed large numbers of people every year. Even though the Spanish flu was more widespread than anything previously witnessed, it was part of a more regular pattern of deadly outbreaks of diseases. The war, on the other hand, is almost always described as something historically unique due to its sheer size. It was also viewed as more tragic due to the fact that it was in the control of man, while diseases often were seen as unstoppable. Some regulations on public meetings, movie theatres etc were instituted, but most people seemed to live on as usual until they caught it. But in general, people (especially young people) went through incredibly challenging times.
The short answer is yes, but on an individual level moreso than a societal one.
Prior to the 1970s, most historical inquiry into the 1918 pandemic was medical and epidemiological in nature - focused on diagnosing the causes and failures of public health in order to prevent a reoccurrence. Crosby's Epidemic and Peace, 1918 was among the first works to explore the pandemic's social consequences. Quoting a review since I don't have access to the original text:
"Despite these grim statistics...the flu epidemic prompted no panic or awe at the time, stimulated much less public attention or official action than one might have expected, and left remarkably little imprint on the public memory and historical consciousness. It appears that the primary national concern with the war itself absorbed the epidemic "as simply a subdivision of the war." The disease struck and moved through any given area rapidly, and although illness was widespread, the low fatality rate (2-3 percent) was not sufficient to excite great fear. Those who died went quickly; the overwhelming majority recovered without lasting or visible injury."
However, here we might make a distinction between the social-historical pronouncement of "the worst year ever" and the individual-familial judgement of "the worst year ever for me." The reviewer continues:
"...making a distinction between "the level of collectivities" and "the atoms of human societies," Crosby concluded that the experience did indeed have a significant and enduring influence on individuals as evidenced in personal memoirs and letters of ordinary people."
Crosby argued that for the millions of people who had lost loved ones, the pandemic was a watershed moment in their lives. In the United States, the pandemic caused more death and suffering than all of the twentieth-century wars combined, but without any of the broader-scale social reckoning. It was, in essence, an individual tragedy experienced millions of times over.
Sources:
Carrigan, Jo. “Crosby, Jr., ‘Epidemic and Peace, 1918’ (Book Review).” June 1, 1978.
Crosby, Alfred W. Epidemic and Peace, 1918. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press, 1976.
Phillips, Howard. "The re-appearing shadow of 1918: trends in the historiography of the 1918–19 influenza pandemic." Canadian Bulletin of Medical History 21, no. 1 (2004): 121-134.