….uncharted waters?
Unknown territory?
Do not think you are THAT special!
Humanity is facing a harrowing moment, but we have been here before.. And will be here again.
The most famous pandemic in history until now tells of 1918.. A time when ….yes….quarantines were issued.. a time when…yes….panic was regular.
And even when gas masks were being used as a safeguard against the virus!
YORK PA declared a rule: Enter stores early.. only for necessary purchases! No crowds! And don’t congregate! This from 1918.
Wilkes-Barre had the same idea on October 26, 1918:
Marion Heights PA also had a rigid quarantine!
In October 1918, 20 ‘whole families’ were reported ill.. Churches, schools, cigar stores, pool rooms, and even grocery stores were reported to be closed on the mountain town at the time. No one was permitted to congregate on streets…
Enforcing social distancing carried the full force of the law in Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania in October 1918. Pandemic influenza arrived in the Northumberland County mining community in the days following a Liberty Loan Drive parade to raise funds the American war effort in Europe.
With the development of more than 100 cases of influenza and resulting pneumonia in Mount Carmel, the town’s board of health announced the following regulations on October 5, 1918:
The Board of Health of Mount Carmel announces that all homes where Spanish influenza or pneumonia exist are under strict quarantine. No persons are permitted to visit the sick except physicians or nurses and only when death is near will near relatives be permitted to visit the patient.
Emphasis is given to the general quarantine issued yesterday and no public assemblages of any character will be permitted until further notice.
It is impossible to state the extent of the epidemic in Mount Carmel at the present writing. There are practically 100 well-defined cases of influenza, but in addition there are scores of pneumonia cases which undoubtedly were caused by influenza.
A fascinating day of news was reported in the MOUNT CARMEL ITEM on October 7, 1918: Among the info, Minersville was reported to be the worst stricken city in the area… According to the dispatch, Mount Carmel doctors hurried to the town…
Kulpmont had 200 cases and four deaths..
Shamokin had 20 deaths..
The same paper reported the death of the YMCA secretary Charles Yeager…
It reported that Kulpmont was under STRICT quarantine as 200 deaths occurred in the town..
One blurb at the bottom of the paper reported that William Yarnall and his wife were “Seriously ill” from the Spanish flu..
Meanwhile Pottsville reported 800 cases and “state physicians and nurses are arriving on every train to check on the influenza epidemic here and at Minersville.”
Good news was that Mount Carmel police chief Abe Morgan was out of bed and improving after being scourged with the Spanish flu..
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The Pittsburgh POST-GAZETTE on October 6, 1918: Schools were closed.. and even at that time, the POST reported that “quarantine measure short of those constituting absolute stagnation of industry and commerce cannot now be depended on to prevent the disease reaching every susceptible individuals.”
A public opinion piece appeared in a Chambersburg newspaper, PUBLIC OPINION, on November 14 1918.. the article spoke about the ‘grippe’ of 1890..
….Government gone too far in asking you to wear a mask?
Get this!
After San Francisco made masks mandatory in public, an awareness campaign began.
The city’s mayor, along with members of the Board of Health, endorsed a Red Cross publicity blitz which told the public: “Wear a Mask and Save Your Life! A Mask is 99% Proof Against Influenza.” Songs were written about mask wearing, including one ditty that featured the lyrics: “Obey the laws, and wear the gauze. Protect your jaws from septic paws.”
Anyone found outdoors without a mask could be fined or even imprisoned.
The campaign worked and other Californian cities followed suit, including Santa Cruz and Los Angeles, followed by states across the US.
And it wasn’t just America.
On the other side of the Atlantic similar steps were being taken — the Committee of the Academie de Médicine of Paris recommended the wearing of face masks in the French captial in early November 1918. So did Dr. Niven, the Medical Officer of Health for Manchester, in northern England.
In a case of history repeating itself, this week the mayor of Los Angeles asked people to wear masks when out in public shopping.
As mask use gained pace across Europe and North America the issue of supply became acute.
There were only a small number of specialist mask manufacturers, such as the Prophylacto Manufacturing Company of Chicago, and they could not meet the surge in demand.
Home production was the answer. In parts of America, churches, community groups, and Red Cross chapters came together, acquiring as much gauze as they could find, and held mass mask-making sessions.
But life will return to normal……
As this Harrisburg newspaper article explained in the fall of 1918.. City churches were going to open again… A lifting of a ban of gatherings was going to be celebrated
… and many were expected to receive communion for the first time after forced Pennsylvania quarantine…
Just one problem.
That Harrisburg article was written in the fall of 1918 .. there was still another, more deadlier wave, of the Spanish flu yet to hit.
Let us hope we don’t make the same deadly mistake in 2020……
