Pandemics: 1918 and 2020 by David Cooney

          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] 

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.