Social distancing worked in 1918

During the 1918 "Spanish" flu crisis, somewhere between 50 and 100 million people died around the world, far more than died in the world war which ended in November 2018.

From the NY Times:

Cities That Went All In on Social Distancing in 1918 Emerged Stronger for It.

They had lower mortality rates from the influenza pandemic.  But it also appears that their economies fared better, too.