Faced
with the ongoing global Covid-19 pandemic, few Americans have ever experienced
anything quite like this. “Social Distancing” and working from home have become
the new normal for most people and have effectively changed the country
forever. This is not the first pandemic in American history, however, and the
themes seen with the previous pandemic are reminiscent of today. Over a century
ago, in 1918, a pandemic took the country and the world, by surprise. This was
an H1N1 virus, better known at the time as the “Spanish Flu.”
Seeing the name “Spanish Flu,” one may
assume that the virus originated in Spain. In all actuality, this is not the
case. Spain, during the first world war, is one of the few European powers to
remain neutral in the conflict between the Entente and Central powers. In the belligerent
countries, censorship suppressed news of the raging flu virus for fear that any
news of its spread would dampen morale on the home front.[1]
Unlike other countries, the Spanish press was under no such restrictions. The
flu first made headlines in Spain in late-May 1918; the Spanish monarch, King
Alfonso XIII, contracted the disease shortly after the first headlines. Because
countries whose news was censored could read accounts from the Spanish press,
it was assumed that Spain was the disease's country of origin.[2]
This was not the case, however.
A disease of unknown type and origin was first
identified in the United States, among military personnel in March 1918 at Camp
Funston in Fort Riley, Kansas.
From there the virus spread to Asia, Europe, and the rest of the world.[3][4] In October 1918 alone, 195,000 Americans were killed by the virus. That
same month, Chicago and other cities around the U.S. closed places of
entertainment and schools. Public gatherings were prohibited.[5] In
Philadelphia, the cost of closing businesses cost theaters, motion picture
houses, and hotels an estimated two-million dollars; saloons lost an estimated
$355,000.[6] In
San Francisco, the city’s health department issued an edict requiring all
persons serving the public to wear masks, with a recommendation that all
residents wear masks.[7]
The first
reported death in Utica, NY, occurred in October, 1918. E.T. Batsford’s death
appeared in the October 4 edition of the Utica Daily Press
citing “flu and pneumonia” as the cause of death.[8]
The following day, five additional cases were reported by Utica Daily Press.[9] By
October 7, 35 cases of influenza and two of flu and pneumonia surfaced in the
city. On October 9, the Utica Daily Press reported that city hall would
be closing all schools and prohibiting public gatherings.[10]
The next day, city officials issued a plea for volunteer nurses as they
canceled Sunday services citywide.[11]
The next week, on October 15, 70 new flu cases were reported in nearby Rome. On
October 21, the Red Cross similarly sent out a plea for the women of Utica to
volunteer their services. Two days later the Red Cross established a hospital
in the former St. Elizabeth Hospital building on Columbia Street in Utica. By
October 23, less than twenty days after the disease first appeared in Utica, 98
people were laid to rest in the Forest Hill Cemetery, with only half being
buried because of a manpower shortage. Everyday functions such as court
hearings were delayed.[12]
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Postcard of Utica General Hospital,
ca. 1908.
|
The devastation caused by the influenza pandemic
in Utica is representative of the region in general. In 1918 alone, there were
nearly 400,000 reported cases of influenza and “at least 17,600 deaths” in
upstate New York.[13] The city of Syracuse
similarly saw rapidly growing numbers of people, young men in particular,
contracting and dying from the disease. Ironically, the pandemic struck
Syracuse through the Syracuse Recruit Camp, an army recruiting camp that like
Camp Funston, Kansas, served as an ideal breeding ground for the contagion.[14]
It took several weeks for Syracuse city
officials to act on what health officials and doctors had been saying all
along. Mayor Walter Robinson Stone finally ordered “schools, churches,
theaters, dance halls, skating rinks, and other public places closed” plus a
host of other public health measures on October 7, 1918.[15]
 |
Public Health Announcement from the
Syracuse Herald
|
As quickly as the flu had appeared, it seemed to
disappear. In many ways, the disease had run itself out. On October 29, the
general quarantine order in Utica was lifted. Between October 2 and November 1,
1918, the flu was listed as the cause of death for 437 Uticans, along with
scores of others in the local community.[16] Four days earlier, Syracuse had similarly lifted its ban public gatherings,
re-opening schools and shuttered businesses but not before the pandemic had
claimed the lives of more than 900 people.[17]
Unknown to city officials, physicians, and others, the pandemic would be back
for a third wave to continue infecting and killing residents of central New
York well into 1919.
In all, the influenza pandemic claimed
approximately 675,000 lives across the United States, over 50 million
worldwide,[18] the last of the pandemic
cases occurring in 1919. Its legacy lives on, however.[19]
Some of the preventive measures such as quarantining, the shuttering of
businesses and places of entertainment, and “social distancing,” all find their
origin in the 1918 pandemic. In Minnesota, the twin cities of Minneapolis and
St. Paul differed greatly in their responses to the 1918 Influenza Pandemic. Minneapolis
moved quickly in response to the first reported deaths, closing all schools,
churches, theaters, and pool halls at midnight October 12, 1918. In contrast,
St. Paul elected not to close any public places. Less than three weeks later, headlines of The St. Paul Pioneer Press rang out with
the phrase “In Heavens Name Do Something!”[20]
Outrage in the local press proved enough to force the city of St. Paul to enact
stricter health measures, shuttering the same types of businesses as Minneapolis
had weeks earlier. Researchers concluded that the economy of Minneapolis, with
its lowered mortality rate, was able to recover more quickly and stronger than
its twin city across the Mississippi River.[21]
Looking at Utica, Syracuse, and the
Twin Cities in 1918, many of the same measures implemented during our current
pandemic were effective in stemming the tide of pandemic. Quarantines, closed
non-essential businesses, bans on social gatherings, and wearing masks are as
familiar now as they were a century ago. If there is one thing to learn from
the 1918-19 Influenza Pandemic it is that time and common sense are part of
what it will take to see the Covid-19 Pandemic run itself out. Writing in 2007,
Columbia University epidemiologist Steven S. Morse noted that there is still
much to learn from the lessons of 1918.[22]
[1] “Why was it called ‘The
Spanish Flu,’” History.Com, accessed April 12, 2020, history.com/news/why-was-it-called-the-spanish-flu.
[2] Ibid.
[3] “1918 Pandemic (H1N1
Virus),” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, accessed April 12,
2020, https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resources/1918-pandemic-h1n1.html
[4] “1918 Pandemic Influenza
Historic Timeline,” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, accessed
April 12, 2020, https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resources/1918-commemoration/pandemic-timeline-1918.htm
[5] Ibid.
[6] Robert A. Clark, “Chapter
Title: Spanish Influenza 1918-1919 Overview,” IT Governance Publishing,
(2016):93.
[7] Ibid.
[8] Unknown Author, “Flu and
Polio spelled terror for Uticans” The Daily Press, March 15, 1983.
[9] Ibid.
[10] Ibid.
[11] Ibid.
[12] Ibid.
[13] Deacon Lile, “1918 Flu
Pandemic Pushed Hill Toward Modern Health Care,” accessed April 24, 2020, https://www.hamilton.edu/magazine/winter09/the-hill-in-history
[14] Influenze Encyclopedia The American Influenza Epidemic of 1918–1919:
A Digital Encyclopedia, “Syracuse, New York,” accessed April 24, 2020, https://www.influenzaarchive.org/cities/city-syracuse.html#
[15] Ibid.
[16] Ibid.
[17] Ibid.
[18] “History of the 1918
Pandemic.” Accessed April 24, 2020. https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resources/1918-commemoration/1918-pandemic-history.htm
[19] “1918 Pandemic (H1N1 Virus),” The Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention, accessed April 12, 2020,
https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resources/1918-pandemic-h1n1.html
[20] Emily Badger and
Quoctrung Bui, “Cities That Went All-In on Social Distancing in 1918 Emerged
Stronger for It,” The New York Times, April 3, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/04/03/upshot/coronavirus-cities-social-distancing-better-employment.html
[21] Ibid.
[22] Stephen S. Morse,
“Pandemic influenza: Studying the lessons of history,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, 104: 18 (May 1,
2007), 7314.
