The Pandemic of 1918-19: How It Affected Schenectady, NY

[Jonesie]

The Influenza Pandemic of 1918-19 and How It Affected the City of Schenectady, New York​

Introduction​

[Pages 1-5 of a Senior Project Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for Graduation, Department of History, Union College, March, 1986]

[Reproduced here with the permission of the author, Alan A. Morris. It is in SCPL's Schenectady Collection at Schdy R 974.744 MOR.
Title inside cover is America and Influenza: The Pandemic of 1918-19 and How It Affected the City of Schenectady, New York.]​

During the years 1918-1919, The Spanish Influenza, one of the most devastating pandemics of modern times, ravaged much of the world. The pandemic received its name because of the severity of the outbreak on the Iberian Peninsula. The influenza pandemic would be responsible for more deaths in one year than the First World War had caused in four years. The pestilence killed approximately twenty million persons world-wide and at least five hundred thousand in the United States. The speed of the disease provided little or no escape: Influenza was able to circle the globe in less than five months without the benefit of the airplane. Today, scientists are still not quite sure how it spread so far so quickly. For example, inaccessible Eskimo villages were reported to have been wiped out to the last adult and child. In fact, the only spot in the world that escaped totally untouched was the tiny, isolated island of Tristan da Cunha located in the South Atlantic.

Influenza has afflicted humanity since ancient times. The individual symptoms and epidemiological traits of the disease are sufficiently characteristic to enable one to identify a number of major epidemics in the distant past. Hippocrates recorded the first known influenza epidemic in 412 B.C., and numerous outbreaks were reported during the Middle Ages. The term "influenza" was introduced in Italy in the 15th century when the disease was attributed to the influence (= "influenza") of the stars. Later Italian writers refer to "influenza di freddo," the influence of the cold, thinking that exposure to the cold caused influenza. The British adopted the name during the epidemic of 1742-43, and it was during this same time the French began calling the disease "la grippe."

The first well-recorded episode of influenza was the pandemic of 1580, which started in Asia and spread to Africa, Europe, and the Americas. The pandemic swept through Europe in six weeks and "afflicted almost all of the nations of whom hardly the twentieth person was free of the disease, and anyone who was so became an object of wonder to others in the place." In Britain there were two waves, one in the summer and one in autumn, with high mortality. Rome recorded 5000 dead, and "some Spanish cities were? nearly entirely depopulated by the disease." Such a high mortality rate can be explained, in part, by the crowded, unsanitary conditions of the large cities of the time, and by the practice of treating a fever with bloodletting.

As shown by the following table, there were eight major outbreaks of influenza in the ninteenth century.
Table 1 ? Major Outbreaks of Influenza in the Ninteenth Century
(see link below)

The pandemic of 1918-1919 was composed of three waves. The first probably began in the United States in March, 1918, and spread to Europe. By July, the disease had reached New Zealand, India and South Africa. The second wave affected nearly every nation on all five continents. The third swept Europe and the United States in the spring of 1919. Of the three waves, the second was the most lethal. The pandemic caused wipespread disruption throughout the world, and at its height, the community life of many cities was essentially non-existent. In the United States, there were twenty-five million clinical cases of influenza during the Fall and Winter of 1918-19 ? nearly one quarter of the entire population. In most major cities, theaters were closed and public gatherings prohibited. Hospitals and morgues were overcrowded and understaffed. Some healthy adults died within 24 hours of the first signs of illness. Despite an outpouring of volunteers entire families became sick without anyone to care for them. There were countless remedies, but before long it became apparent that the only effective treatment was bedrest and good nursing care.

The pandemic seriously hindered the United States' war effort. By the fall of 1918, the delivery of new troops to the western front had all but stopped. The Armed Forces suffered approximately 43,000 deaths from influenza, only twenty percent less than the number of troops killed in action.

Like all major cities of the United States, Schenectady was affected by the Pandemic, with 404 recorded deaths and approximately 15,000 cases. The first reported cases of Influenza were recorded at the construction site of the South Schenectady (now Rotterdam) Military warehouses among the black troops stationed there at the end of September. By mid October, influenza had a firm grip on the entire city. Schools were closed and public gatherings were probited. At one point, General Electric reported that thirty percent of its work force was out with the disease. The beginning of November saw the end to both World War I and the Pandemic.

This paper will trace the course of the Influenza Pandemic from its beginnings in March of 1918 to its eventual disappearance from the human population. The Pandemic will be discussed in general terms on the world and country level, and quite specifically in reference to its effects on the City of Schenectady.

http://www.schenectadyhistory.org/health/morris/introduction.html

MORE READING:
http://www.schenectadyhistory.org/health/morris/1.html
http://www.schenectadyhistory.org/health/morris/2.html
http://www.schenectadyhistory.org/health/morris/3.html
http://www.schenectadyhistory.org/health/morris/4.html
http://www.schenectadyhistory.org/health/morris/5.html
http://www.schenectadyhistory.org/health/morris/6.html
http://www.schenectadyhistory.org/health/morris/conclusion.html

 

[gr8greens]

Re: The Pandemic of 1918-19: How It Affected Schenectady, NY

The Influenza Pandemic of 1918-19 and How It Affected the City of Schenectady, New York​

Introduction​

[Pages 1-5 of a Senior Project Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for Graduation, Department of History, Union College, March, 1986]

[Reproduced here with the permission of the author, Alan A. Morris. It is in SCPL's Schenectady Collection at Schdy R 974.744 MOR.
Title inside cover is America and Influenza: The Pandemic of 1918-19 and How It Affected the City of Schenectady, New York.]​

During the years 1918-1919, The Spanish Influenza, one of the most devastating pandemics of modern times, ravaged much of the world. The pandemic received its name because of the severity of the outbreak on the Iberian Peninsula. The influenza pandemic would be responsible for more deaths in one year than the First World War had caused in four years. The pestilence killed approximately twenty million persons world-wide and at least five hundred thousand in the United States. The speed of the disease provided little or no escape: Influenza was able to circle the globe in less than five months without the benefit of the airplane. Today, scientists are still not quite sure how it spread so far so quickly. For example, inaccessible Eskimo villages were reported to have been wiped out to the last adult and child. In fact, the only spot in the world that escaped totally untouched was the tiny, isolated island of Tristan da Cunha located in the South Atlantic.

Influenza has afflicted humanity since ancient times. The individual symptoms and epidemiological traits of the disease are sufficiently characteristic to enable one to identify a number of major epidemics in the distant past. Hippocrates recorded the first known influenza epidemic in 412 B.C., and numerous outbreaks were reported during the Middle Ages. The term "influenza" was introduced in Italy in the 15th century when the disease was attributed to the influence (= "influenza") of the stars. Later Italian writers refer to "influenza di freddo," the influence of the cold, thinking that exposure to the cold caused influenza. The British adopted the name during the epidemic of 1742-43, and it was during this same time the French began calling the disease "la grippe."

The first well-recorded episode of influenza was the pandemic of 1580, which started in Asia and spread to Africa, Europe, and the Americas. The pandemic swept through Europe in six weeks and "afflicted almost all of the nations of whom hardly the twentieth person was free of the disease, and anyone who was so became an object of wonder to others in the place." In Britain there were two waves, one in the summer and one in autumn, with high mortality. Rome recorded 5000 dead, and "some Spanish cities were? nearly entirely depopulated by the disease." Such a high mortality rate can be explained, in part, by the crowded, unsanitary conditions of the large cities of the time, and by the practice of treating a fever with bloodletting.

As shown by the following table, there were eight major outbreaks of influenza in the ninteenth century.
Table 1 ? Major Outbreaks of Influenza in the Ninteenth Century
(see link below)

The pandemic of 1918-1919 was composed of three waves. The first probably began in the United States in March, 1918, and spread to Europe. By July, the disease had reached New Zealand, India and South Africa. The second wave affected nearly every nation on all five continents. The third swept Europe and the United States in the spring of 1919. Of the three waves, the second was the most lethal. The pandemic caused wipespread disruption throughout the world, and at its height, the community life of many cities was essentially non-existent. In the United States, there were twenty-five million clinical cases of influenza during the Fall and Winter of 1918-19 ? nearly one quarter of the entire population. In most major cities, theaters were closed and public gatherings prohibited. Hospitals and morgues were overcrowded and understaffed. Some healthy adults died within 24 hours of the first signs of illness. Despite an outpouring of volunteers entire families became sick without anyone to care for them. There were countless remedies, but before long it became apparent that the only effective treatment was bedrest and good nursing care.

The pandemic seriously hindered the United States' war effort. By the fall of 1918, the delivery of new troops to the western front had all but stopped. The Armed Forces suffered approximately 43,000 deaths from influenza, only twenty percent less than the number of troops killed in action.

Like all major cities of the United States, Schenectady was affected by the Pandemic, with 404 recorded deaths and approximately 15,000 cases. The first reported cases of Influenza were recorded at the construction site of the South Schenectady (now Rotterdam) Military warehouses among the black troops stationed there at the end of September. By mid October, influenza had a firm grip on the entire city. Schools were closed and public gatherings were probited. At one point, General Electric reported that thirty percent of its work force was out with the disease. The beginning of November saw the end to both World War I and the Pandemic.

This paper will trace the course of the Influenza Pandemic from its beginnings in March of 1918 to its eventual disappearance from the human population. The Pandemic will be discussed in general terms on the world and country level, and quite specifically in reference to its effects on the City of Schenectady.

http://www.schenectadyhistory.org/health/morris/introduction.html

MORE READING:
http://www.schenectadyhistory.org/health/morris/1.html
http://www.schenectadyhistory.org/health/morris/2.html
http://www.schenectadyhistory.org/health/morris/3.html
http://www.schenectadyhistory.org/health/morris/4.html
http://www.schenectadyhistory.org/health/morris/5.html
http://www.schenectadyhistory.org/health/morris/6.html
http://www.schenectadyhistory.org/health/morris/conclusion.html

Thanks for the links, Jonesie. I live in Schenectady......and in fact grew up across the street from the Military installation mentioned in chapter 4/5.....and I work in Ellis Hospital, which the report also mentions. Really brings the spectre of PI into focus.

 

[Jonesie]

Chapter I: Influenza the Disease

Chapter I: Influenza the Disease

Chapter I: Influenza the Disease​

Influenza is caused by a virus from one of two main families, A and B. Although epidemics of these two strains frequently occur, only type A, for unknown reasons, is capable of producing pandemics the size of 1918's. Type B influenza causes what is generally known as the "common flu." A third family, type C, causes mild respiratory infections, and does not cause epidemics. The A and B families are quite similar in structure. The virus is approximately 4-millionths of an inch in diameter, and is round but maybe slightly elongated. The surface of the virus is studded with spikes, composed of proteins, which contain small amounts of complex sugars. A protein matrix, or superstructure, gives the virus its shape. (See figure 1) Within this matrix is found the genetic material of the virus, RNA.

The virus has the "ability" to change its virulence, which can result in either milder or more severe epidemics. The mutation of the RNA allows for the changing strength of the virus. The actual purpose of these mutations, as with any living species, is to enable the further existence of the virus. The results of these genetic changes are different spike patterns which enable the virus to overcome previous immunity or vaccination of its host population. As a consequence of mutation, both types A and B contain hundreds if not thousands of different strains, many which are capable of causing an epidemic.

Figure 1: The Influenza Virus​

Human attempts to find the cause of influenza go back as far as the earliest records written about the disease. Heavenly bodies, such as comets, planets, stars and meteors have all been accused of causing influenza epidemics. In addition, the disease has been attributed to a poisonous gas that is supposedly ejected into the earth's atmosphere by volcanic eruptions and earthquakes.

Robert Johnson, while writing about the 1793 influenza epidemic in Philadelphia, was the first to postulate that the disease was "propagated at least to some extent by contagion." Most people, however, did not believe that influenza was caused by a specific contagion, and as late as 1894, scientists such as the British epidemiologist Charles Creighton did not believe that influenza was spread by a contagion, as stated by the germ theory.

The influenza pandemic of 1889-90 set off a great crusade to find the cause of influenza. Viruses had not been discovered, and therefore the reseachers concentrated on finding a bacterial cause. In Germany, Dr. Richard Pfeiffer discovered that a certain bacterium was present in the throats of a great many influenza victims. Although it is called the "Pfeiffer influenza bacillus," there was no hard proof that it actually caused influenza. The 1918-19 pandemic confirmed that even through it was present in many cases, "Pfeiffer's bacillus" was not the cause of influenza: "Attempts were made to determine whether it was really the cause of influenza by placing drops of cultures in the noses of volunteers. Usually these inoculations had no effect?"

The scientists of 1918 knew that microbes smaller than bacteria, called "filterable viruses" because they could pass through filters that bacteria could not, were the cause of some diseases. However, the microscopic technology of the time did not permit the visualization of these viruses.

The first reliable evidence that a virus was the cause of influenza was published in 1931 by Richard Shope of the Rockefeller Institute. He had inoculated pigs with unfiltered material and reproduced the disease. The breakthrough occurred when the pigs got sick from material that had been carefully voided of all bacteria.

During the influenza epidemic of 1933 in London, the National Institute for Medical Reseach asked its scientists to make another attempt to isolate the cause of influenza. Three of these men, Smith, Andrews and Laidlaw, first isolated type A influenza in 1933. This breakthrough aroused so strong an interest to capture and study the strain responsible for the 1918 pandemic that scientists exhumed the bodies of Alaskan victims in hope that the virus had survived and could be isolated by the new techniques. After this attempt proved unsuccessful, researchers turned to serological investigations to reconstruct the antibody patterns in the blood serums of survivors and thus find the antigenetic "fingerprints" characteristic that particular strain.

These studies concluded that the 1918 virus had antigenetic characteristics unknown before 1918, and found only in swine since the the late 1920's. This data led to the hypothesis that the killer strain may have been a mutation of a type A Swine Influenza that eventually lost its ability to spread from human to human. The actual strain of the pandemic of 1918 was never isolated, and therefore its "identity" will never be positively known.

Although the influenza virus is constantly changing, the clinical disease produced remains relatively constant. Influenza is an acute, highly communicable infection of the respiratory tract that is transmitted through droplet inhalation and mouthing of objects freshly contaminated by discharges from the nose and throat of infected persons. (14) The incubation period is short, usually only one to three days, and the course of the disease is highly variable, ranging "from a mild innocuous illness of short duration to one of great virulence ending in death." In addition, many sub-clinical cases with symptoms resembling common colds, are known to affect the population.

Upon inhalation, the virus lodges itself in the upper respiratory tract of the victim, causing liquification of mucus, which prevents viral extrusion by ciliary action. Next, the virus is incorporated into the surface cells of the respiratory tract where the RNA replicates and is released to attack other cells. Viral growth usually reaches its peak approximately 72 hours after it begins, and then declines rapidly. Under natural conditions, the time between the start of growth and development of symptoms is approximately 48 hours.

Chills, fever, headache, and muscular pain mark the onset of influenza. As one Army medical officer noted during the epidemic, nearly all cases had the same symptoms:

The men almost universally complained of headache, pains in back, arms, legs and bones, sore throat, tightness in chest and cough. Epistaxis [nose bleed] was frequent. A mild pectechial rash was sometimes seen on the forehead. Constipation was common, but other gastrointestinal symptoms were not often noted. The initial temperature ranged from 99 degrees to 106 degrees, the average being about 102 degrees.

Other commonly occurring symptoms included nasal congestion, inflammation of the mucus membranes, conjunctivae reddening, swollen glands, photophobia and eye pains. While these symptoms were common to both "normal" influenza and the 1918 version, during the epidemic, many were intensified.

The most ghastly of the symptoms of the 1918 pandemic, and one not present in normal influenza, earned the disease one of its nicknames, "The Purple Death." The disease produced a purple discoloration found on the face, chiefly around the lips, and sometimes covering other parts of the body. This color was due to a lack of oxygen in the tissues of these areas, a direct result of the lungs filling with fluid. By the time the purple color had set in, the patients were already drowning in their own fluid, a condition that almost certainly meant death would soon follow:

The purplish discoloration was an early omen of disaster? [patients] walked into the hospital? not critically ill, but on many was the telltale purplish color about the face. Then and there, the physicians in the admitting office knew that many such were doomed, and nearly all such victims proved the rightness of the physicians' prediction.

The duration of normal influenza is usually five to six days, with convalescence lasting seven to ten days longer. In severe cases, however, influenza can take one of two courses: acute inflammation of the lungs resulting in excessive fluid build up, and death within a few days, or more commonly, the development of bronchopneumonia on the fourth or fifth day followed by death or a long period of convalescence. Pneumonia is the most common complication of influenza, and the influenza-pneumonia combination caused more deaths than influenza alone. Other complications involved the circulatory and nervous system. Influenza can produce various cardiac complications, ranging from temporary irregular heart beat to inflamation of the heart muscles. Encephalitis and encephalopathy are rare complications usually found only in children.

In 1918, there was little that medicine could do to lower the pandemic's mortality rates. After considerable experimentation, the physicians felt that there was no specific cure for influenza. They were right. Today, influenza is generally treated symptomatically. The discovery of antibiotics provided the only advantage modern medicine has over its 1918 counterpart. Antibiotics are highly effective in dealing with the secondary bacterial pneumonia which often develops with influenza. If antibiotics had been available in 1918 pandemic, the death rate would have been drastically reduced.

The lack of any universally accepted cure led to one of the strangest phenomenons of the pandemic: the flood of advice and cures that was sent to government offices and newspapers. Camp Sherman, an army base in Ohio, received "on a single day? more than 300 telegrams urging the use of various strange concoctions? [and] hundreds of letters extolling the virtues of one or more sure cures." The suggestions of these letters ranged from placing a shotgun under the victim's bed so the "fine steel of the gun could draw out the fever," to sweating continuously for one and a half hours or standing outside stark naked. Other letters recommended drinking hot water or solutions of either bicarbonate or citrate of potash. One woman suggested inhaling the vapors from a pepper stew. Gradually, it became clear that the best treatment was bed rest, and by the end of the pandemic, this appeared to be the most commonly prescribed.

http://www.schenectadyhistory.org/health/morris/1.html

 

[Jonesie]

Re: The Pandemic of 1918-19: How It Affected Schenectady, NY

The Influenza Pandemic of 1918-19 and How It Affected the City of Schenectady, New York​

Chapter II: Origins of the Pandemic​

While the eyes of the world were concentrated on Europe, a new strain of influenza, unlike any seen before, was born. Within five months, the new strain had circled the globe and further mutated itself to become the powerful killer it was.

When influenza first appeared in America in March of 1918, the nation paid little heed to it. The Russians had just withdrawn from World War I and Germany was moving division after division to the Western Front in order to gain numerical superiority over the opposing British and French troops. On March 21, the Germans launched a huge offensive, overrunning large areas of France in just three weeks. As a reply to urgent appeals from the Allies, America sent a total of 202,000 troops to France. America began the largest mobilization in its history. Consequently, the Country's lack of attention to the relatively mild first wave of the Great Pandemic is not surprising. But, while few took notice, something new and deadly was seeding itself in the throats and lungs of Americans that would bury more human beings than the War.

Indeed, the war effort, and not influenza, occupied most people's minds that spring. This lack of attention was partly due to the disease itself. Pneumonic complications were rare and deaths were even more infrequent. Influenza seemed no worse than any other type of respiratory infection common to the early spring. Quite possibly, many doctors mistook many cases of influenza as common colds, making the presence of influenza even less noticeable.

Figure 2 ? The Starting Points of the Last Four Pandemics

The first wave probably began in the United States and was brought to Europe by the American Expeditionary Force (AEF). Another possible starting point was China (see Figure 2) where influenza was reported in early March. The Japanese Navy also reported cases of the disease at about the same time, however, no reliable documentary evidence exists to support this. An interesting point to note is that China was the point of origin for the pandemics of 1889, 1957, and 1968. The interior of Eastern Asia is apparently the birthplace for influenza pandemics, and as the other three major pandemics of the last 100 years began there, it would seem logical that the 1918 pandemic also started there. However, if evidence from qualified sources is required to conclude the starting point of the epidemic, then the United States must be seen as the origin of the first wave.

By the end of March, a mild form of influenza had passed through many of the states east of the Mississippi River, and a few west of the River. The disease first appeared in France in the base ports of the AEF the following month, and reached the front lines at the end of the month. The disease crossed to the German front at the beginning of May, and then began its journey through Eastern and Central Europe.

At the time, influenza was not a reportable disease, creating difficulties in obtaining a clear picture of the Spring epidemic. Death certificates from the period are not helpful either; most physicians attributed deaths to uncomplicated pneumonia. In an age before penicillin and sulfa drugs, pneumonia was not an uncommon way to die, especially in the winter or early spring. The spring wave was mild when compared to the second wave of the fall. Diagnostic confusion between influenza and other common respiratory infections undoubtedly led to the unclear understanding of the spring wave. Nevertheless, the spring epidemic did have two distinguishing features which were ominous signs of what laid ahead. In post-mortems of the victims of the spring wave, pathologists found something new in the victim's lungs: a wipespread hemorrhagic and edematous (abnormal excess buildup of fluid) process never before seen with influenza. The second significant feature was the suprising age of the victims. Both influenza and pneumonia usually kill the age extremes of the population, the very young or very old. On a graph, this would appear as a rough "U." (See Figure 3, influenza deaths, and Figure 4, pneumonia deaths) This mortality pattern has remained relatively constant. A similar graph for the 1918 spring wave and later waves of the pandemic revealed the shape of the curve as a crude "W" with the peak in the middle, "where both science and common sense declare it should not be." (See Figure 5, p. 17)

Figure 3: Influenza Deaths: Percentage in Each Ten Year Age Group, U. S. Registration Area, 1917.

Figure 4: Pneumonia Deaths: Percentage in Each Ten Year Age Group, U. S. Registration Area, 1917.

Figure 5: Influenza and Pneumonia Deaths: Percentage in Each Ten Year Age Group, Louisville, Kentucky, April, 1918.

These data suggest that people in the United States between the ages of twenty and forty, in the prime of their lives, were dying more than the more vulnerable young and old.

The Bureau of the Census has issued a report based on the mortality in Indiana, Kansas and Philadelpha for the period September 1st to December 31st. It shows that the highest rate occurred in the age period from 30 to 34 years, with the period from 25 to 29 years second. Of all the deaths tabulated, more than half occur ? this age group represents only 33 percent of the total population concerned.

This pattern of mortality was not confined to the United States, but found throughout the world. Apparently, the older Americans, who had lived through a previous influenza epidemic of 1889-90, had developed an immunity to the disease.

In the United States, recent immigrants to this country seem to generally have a higher mortality rate than native born Americans. The bulk of these immigrants, mostly Italians, Russians, and Poles, were between the ages of twenty and forty. Obviously, they were equally as susceptible to influenza as their native born counterparts. The reason for the immigrants higher mortality appears to have been their living conditions. Since influenza is most easily passed in crowded conditions, the congested tenements where most immigrants lived provided the atmosphere for higher mortality.

The studies of both Winslow and Rogers, and Vaughan supported the conclusion that the living conditions of the immigrants contributed to their higher death rates. Winslow and Rogers showed that in Connecticut, the mortality of native-born Americans of Irish, English and German stock was much lower than the mortality for Italians, Russians and Poles. In his study of the effects of influenza in the Greater Boston area, Vaughan found that the Italian and Jewish (made-up of mostly Russians and Poles) tenements were the most severely struck, while the Irish, who were second or third generation native-born American, and whose living conditions were much better than the Italians and Jews, not nearly as affected.

In the four months following influenza's initial appearance in the United States (April to July), the disease had circled the globe and was raised from epidemic to pandemic status. Although the first wave was considered mild, it probably killed tens of thousands world-wide, but the next wave would kill millions. In America, a surprising absence of influenza marked the summer of 1918, a calm before the storm. The disease, however, seemed to have America surrounded. Early July saw epidemics erupt in Cuba, Puerto Rico and Panama. Chinese and Japanese shipping brought the disease to the Hawaiian Islands. With the exception of a mild outbreak at Fort Morgan, Alabama, influenza seemed unable to penetrate the country's coast.

This absence of influenza in America during July and August was probably due to the fact that it was the summer time. Influenza epidemics peak in the Northern Hemisphere in January and February, but epidemics frequently begin in November or December. There seem to be two major factors that make influenza a winter disease. The most important of these is that people spend more time indoors during the cold months of the year. The crowding of people in poorly ventilated buildings facilitates the transmission because the spread of influenza is highly dependant on the population density of a community. The other factor that helps influenza spread is the increased frequency of sneezing and coughing due to more colds during the winter. Unlike the Northern Hemisphere, the tropics do not have a specific flu season. Summer and early fall outbreaks of influenza, such as the second wave, that occur in the Northern Hemisphere are generally attributed to the introduction of a new pandemic strain. While America was enjoying its brief respite, the virus was working its way through millions of people across Asia, Africa and Europe. Somewhere along the line, the virus's genetic character changed. As noted by Vaughan, "During its course through Europe influenza had developed a greatly heightened virulence".


http://www.schenectadyhistory.org/health/morris/2.html

 

[deadandalive]

Re: The Pandemic of 1918-19: How It Affected Schenectady, NY

seem to remember facts about after the 1918 pandemic for at least 10 years people who survived having caught it started displaying what i can only describe as cjd symptoms leading to death , this also was in the millions.anyone with the facts! i believe it stayed dorment for a while like chickenpox only to re emerge up to ten years later . found the thread on gharbiya cluster so enlightening for a newcommer like me ,realy explains the story so far . maybe relates to the above h5n1 like h1n1 moving to other parts of the body. thanks dr himan your a star:tiphat:

 

[Jonesie]

Re: The Pandemic of 1918-19: How It Affected Schenectady, NY

Chapter III: The Pandemic Sweeps Across America​

The final, devastating strain of the Spanish Influenza first appeared in the third week of August in three port cities thousands of miles apart: Freetown, Sierra Leone; Brest, France; and Boston, Massachusetts. No one is quite sure how this happened:

Whether these explosions were? [the results] of a single mutation which originated in one of the three ports and almost simultaneously traveled to the other three or three different mutations will never be known.​

Additionally, considerable debate occurs as to whether this killer strain was actually a mutation, or just a more powerful strain naturally selected during the spring wave. Although both explanations are possible, it seems highly unlikely that the true answer will be found.

On August 27, three sailors of the Receiving Ship, a barracks for naval personnel in Boston, reported to sickbay with symptoms of influenza. By August 29, sixty-six new cases were reported. Within two weeks, two thousand cases of influenza had been recorded in the First Naval District which included the Port of Boston and the surrounding metropolitan area. On September 3, the first civilian case was reported. The deadly second wave had struck America. By the end of September, 85,000 civilian cases of influenza were reported within the state of Massachusetts, and during the last week of the month, seven hundred had died. By the time the pandemic reached its peak in late October, seven hundred would die in a single day in Phliladelpha.

After entering the country at Boston, the pandemic spread generally to the south and then west. International shipping brought influenza to the port cities on the Gulf of Mexico and the West coast, and this created a "pinching" effect on the Midwest. (see Figure 6)

Figure 6 ? Chronological Map of the Influenza Epidemic of 1918

Within New England, influenza reached epidemic proportions by the middle of September, rapidly extending down the entire Atlantic Coast from the southern Maine to Virginia. By the first week of October, the pandemic had apparently reached all of the country except some isolated rural, Rocky Mountain states. By the third week of October, some six weeks after the outbreak in Boston, influenza had invaded every part of the country.

Mortality rate statistics show that influenza's virulence appears to have dropped as the pandemic spread across the country. The maps indicate the months that certain geographic areas were first infected by the second wave (black shading), and the cities are arranged accoring to the data contained on the maps.

City .... Death Rate/thousand from influenza and pneumonia
Boston 5.7
Fall River (MA) 5.5
New Haven 5.1
[August map]
Chicago 3.5
New York 4.1
Baltimore 6.4
Philadelphia 7.4
Pittsburgh 6.3
San Francisco 4.7
Los Angeles 3.3
[September map]
Portland 2.7
Spokane 3.1
Cleveland 3.1
Indianapolis 2.4
Seattle 2.4
St. Louis 2.2
Toledo 2.0
Milwaukee 1.8
Minneapolis 1.8
[October map]

From these data, a general trend can be observed. The earlier in the pandemic a city was infected, the higher the mortality rate seems to be. As shown on the maps, the Northern (west of the Mississippi River) United States was the last region struck, and this region recorded the lowest mortality rates. These statistics are not surprising for like any epidemic, influenza started out very strong and slowly its potency decreased. As an epidemic progresses, the pathogenic agent infects and sometimes kills the host population attacked. If the attack does not end in death, the host can develop an immunity to that particular agent. The combination of death and acquired immunity decreases the number of hosts available to the agent. With less people to infect, the epidemic must lose its virulence.

The influenza epidemic struck the armed forces both earlier and more severely than the civilian population. In addition, because of the mobilization, i.e. the movement of thousands of men over many miles, the armed forces became, to a large extent, the source from which much of the nation contracted influenza. "The belief that the nation's protectors were now the source of its greatest immediate danger was common enough for some civilians to regard the military with fear." Influenza peaked among Naval personnel on duty in the United States in the last week of September. In fact, for the first few weeks, the pandemic was mainly a naval affair. Not surprisingly, both the Navy's shore personnel and the new wave of influenza were concentrated on the East coast. Furthermore, this new wave had begun in the Navy, with their personnel significantly spreading influenza throughout the country:

On September 7, a draft of Jackies [sailors] from Boston arrived at the Philadelphia Naval Yard, where six cases of flu appeared on the eleventh. On September 17? [a] draft of hundreds from the Philadelphia Naval Yard arrived at the Pudget Sound Naval Yard in the state of Washington. Eleven were ill on arrival and the disease became epidemic in Seattle on about September 25. The Navy was also responsible for spreading the epidemic to places other than seaports. In addition to Naval training detachments at colleges across the country, the Navy operated a huge inland base north of Chicago, the Great Lakes Training Station. Influenza first hit the base on September 11, and within a week, there were 2,600 reported cases. By the 20th, outbreaks were reported in Chicago's northern suburbs closest to the base, and it was a matter of days before the epidemic hit Chicago. Since Chicago was the nation's largest railcenter, the pandemic spread out in every direction.​

The Navy tried vainly to stop the epidemic from depleting its ranks. After a successful quarantine of the Naval Training Station on Goat Island in San Francisco Bay, in which not one case of influenza was reported, Naval Surgeons could do nothing but shrug when men released from the confinement and given liberty in San Fransisco contracted the disease. Indeed, they could not keep the men confined forever. Overall, the Navy had reported 120,000 cases, nearly one fourth of its total strength, with 5,000 dead.

The Army, with approximately ten times the manpower of the Navy, suffered over 25,000 deaths in the United States. The epidemic peaked among Army personnel during the week of October 11, two weeks later than in Navy. This later peak is attributed to the inland location of most army bases. The mobilized Army also spread influenza more rapidly than it would have if America was at peace. Many outbreaks throughout the Mid-West and the South can be traced to troop movements between different camps:

?influenza had spread rapidly from camp to camp, from the Atlantic seaboard to the south and west, due to the continual interchange of personnel from infected to non-infected camps.​

The major means of transportion was the railroad. The Army, in order to keep costs down and move the maximum number of men possible, put three men in double seats and two men in single berths (strategic packing as opposed to overloading). This crowding almost guaranteed the spread of influenza among the troops. Troops trains passed through cities and towns, and infected army personnel passed the disease on to the civilians:

The first flu appeared in Kentucky about September 29 when troops were coming through? stopped in Bowling Green, infected a few of the citizenry, got back on the train and went on their way.​

Soldiers and sailors were not the only carriers of influenza, only the best documented. Thousands of civilians working in the war industry crossed the the country on a regular basis. Their contribution to the spread of influenza, although not as well recorded as the military's, was undoubtedly considerable. A serviceman had easy access to free medical care, thus, military cases were more likely to be treated and recorded.

During the period of September 1st and October 31st, one out of every five soldiers stationed in the United States contracted influenza. In an effort to control the epidemic, the War Department ordered a ten percent cut in troop shipments to France, a reduction of seating on trains to one soldier per seat, and a general lowering of the intensity of training in all camps in the country. By the end of October, virtually all draft calls and training were suspended. The idea of slowing down the war effort seemed less dangerous and more sensible than trying to hold it at top speed during the pandemic. Indeed, by the first week of November, fatalities within the Army were cut in half and apparently the pandemic was losing its fury.

The degree to which the armed forces contributed to the spread of influenza raises an important question: Was the magnitude of the 1918 pandemic a result of the circumstances of the times, or would it have still occurred if the world had been at peace? The answer seems to be that although the influenza virus would have been present in 1918, the circumstances of World War I perpetuated the epidemic to the killer that it became.

During 1918, there were brought together not only troops from all corners of the world, but also a large number of labourers? People were crowded together often under conditions of great misery, so circumstances were ideal for the exchange of infection and the start of an epidemic.​

In the United States, the war had produced ideal conditions for the spread of just such an epidemic: "Millions of people of the ages most susceptible to severe influenzal infection were jammed together in industrial cities, military camps and ships, and were shifting about? in immense numbers." Once given the biological foundation, the conditions of war took over and did the rest.

http://www.schenectadyhistory.org/health/morris/3.html

 

[Jonesie]

Re: The Pandemic of 1918-19: How It Affected Schenectady, NY

Chapter IV: The Country's Response​

As influenza swept the country, health departments and other local offices were frantically looking for ways to stop the disease's spread. Most cities across the nation were confronted with not only containing the epidemic, but also dealing with the problems influenza left in its wake.

The War Department was not the only government agency attempting to combat influenza's spread. Local, county, city and state governments throughout the country enacted laws and ordinances to stop the epidemic. Holding to the belief that influenza was spread more easily in crowds, many cities and states enacted bans on all public gatherings. In Newark, for example, on October 10, the Board of Health ordered "all schools, churches, theaters, moving picture houses, dance halls, saloons and sporting arenas closed." In many cities, funerals also fell under the category of public gatherings and were subsequently banned. Aside from the fact that funerals had the potential to create "dangerous" crowd situations, medical officals believed that the corpse was a source of infection.

The following is typical of the laws passed across the country:

There shall be no public church or chapel funerals held in Chicago over any body dead from any disease or cause whatsoever. No wakes or public gatherings of any kind shall be held in connection with these bodies? No dead body shall be taken into any church or chapel for funeral services in connection with such a body during the period of the present epidemic.​

In addition, undertakers were instructed to "wrap the bodies in gauze treated with antiseptic and hermetically seal the coffins."

The task of preparing and burying the dead was more easily said than done. In many cities, this essential service was near collapse. The sheer numbers of dead overwhelmed undertakers; they had never before faced such a huge number of dead at one time.

During a pandemic, the breakdown of this particular service creates two major problems.

• First, the accumulation of bodies allows for the possiblity of secondary epidemics caused by organisms that thrive on dead flesh.
  
• Second, and perhaps more significantly, the build up of corpses will lower and eventually break the morale of the population. Private undertaking house were working around the clock at full capacity, and many were trying to turn misery into profit by raising their prices, sometimes as high as 600%. Some cemeteries were charging burial fees and then making the relatives of the deceased dig the graves themselves.

Corpses arrived at the cemeteries more rapidly than they could be buried. In New York, "the mayor was sufficiently concerned to order city engineers to start digging graves. There was evidence that the specter of unburied dead was commencing to haunt New York, even as it had other cities."

Across the Hudson river, in Newark, the situation was just as bad, if not worse:

?often the dead remained unburied for days and even weeks because of the lack of men to inter them. City employees were used for grave digging? teams of horses were used in several cemeteries to plough trenches in which influenza victims were buried in long rows. When 140 unburied bodies crowded Holy Sepulcher Church at once, the city hired laborers ? at high wages ? to perform the corporal work of mercy.

Coffins were also in short supply, and consequently very expensive. Many families, unable to afford coffins, had to resort to burying their dead in crude, homemade pine boxes. In Washington, D. C., the Commissioner of Health commandeered two boxcar loads of coffins bound for Pittsburgh in the name of the District of Columbia without any consideration of the legal aspects of such an action. The coffins were taken to a high school playground, covered with tarpaulins, and left under heavy police guard. The commissioner "had no illusions that even coffins were not highly desirable objects of theft."

The shortage was so severe in Buffalo, that the city announced it would make its own caskets. The Health Commissioner declared:

They will not be $1000 caskets or even $100 caskets. They will be plain, with plain handles and respectable? the health department will make them and will sell them at cost to families needing them and will give them to the families of the poor. ​

As a direct result of both the unavailiblity of coffins and the lack of men to bury victims, morgues around the country were literally overflowing with bodies.

Almost every major city of the United States recorded scenes such as this one in Philadelphia:

The city's only morgue? was a scene of gristly confusion. Ordinarily, its capacity was 36 bodies: it now had several hundred. They were piled three and four deep in the corridors and in almost every room, covered only with dirty and often blood stained sheets. Most were unembalmed and without ice. Some were mortifying and emitting a nauseating stench.​

Not even the United States Army could escape these problems. As one Army Physician recorded:

There was no place to put the bodies at the base hospital. The Quartermaster Department? could not obtain coffins or embalmers. At the base hospital there was a small plain morgue? [with] space for not more than a dozen bodies? every hour more bodies were borne to the morgue. In that dreadful little morgue as many as 140 bodies were crowded and for a while, no opportunity to dispose of any.​

The impact of the pandemic was probably most heavily felt by the medical profession. The almost impossible task of seeing and caring for the large number of people stricken simultaneously was not helped by the military's drafting of many doctors and skilled nurses. In some cities the shortage of medical personal was critical. In Philadelpia, the University of Pennyslvania School of Medicine gave its third and forth year students one lecture on influenza, suspended classes and "volunteered" the students to work at an emergency hospital. Doctors and nurses around the country routinely worked 14 or more hours a day.

One Newark physician, who reportedly treated three thousand patients in 29 days wrote:

You walked out of your office in the morning and people grabbed you as you walked down the street. You just kept going from one patient to another until late in the evening.​

Although the medical profession did not know the exact means of the transmission of influenza, the role of sneezing and coughing was recognized. In New York City, "open-faced sneezers" were considered public enemies and were subject to fines and jail sentences. Newark police were instructed to eject sneezers and coughers from public places.

One of the most controversial preventive measures directed against the spread of influenza was a mask worn over the nose and mouth. Some, like Dr. Mustard, a health administrator in Washington, D. C., thought the masks were useless against influenza:

"[They] maybe as effective as fish nets against flies. They are an absurdity, a menace when worn by the civilian population."​

Dr. John Kyle of California agreed:

"Masks are for doctors and nurses in an operating room. They look good to the poor innocent patient."​

Some people, such as the San Francisco City Board of Supervisors, saw the masks as beneficial. On October 18, the Board passed what was known as the Mask Ordinance, which said in part:

"Every person appearing on the public streets, in any public place? shall wear a mask? over the nose and mouth, consisting of? butter cloth or fine mesh gauze."​

For the next month, most of San Francisco's population was hiding behind white gauze. Those who did not wear the masks paid fines and went to jail.

Today, medical science knows that because of the influenza virus's extremely small size, the masks were about as effective as Dr. Mustard predicted. However, the mask was effective at catching some of the dust particles and water droplets that the virus rode on, but in order to be even slightly helpful, it had to be worn all the time, be of a certain thickness, and be tightly tied around the face. Needless to say, the mask wearers seldom met these conditions.

The real reasons for the masks were probably more psychological ones than anything else. The masks gave the people a feeling of security; they had something tangible to protect them from influenza. Economically, the mask was also beneficial. Since masks were supposedly accomplishing the same task as the bans against public gathering, and the limits on business hours, stores were able to stay open throughout the pandemic's sweep of the city.

In San Francisco, by the time the Board of Supervisors declared the use of the masks a success, the pandemic was declining in strength all over the country. By Thanksgiving, this country truly had something to be thankful for ? the pandemic seemed to be coming to the end of its course.

A third wave of the epidemic passed through the United States in February and March 1919, but this wave was considerably less virulent and deadly than the second wave. By mid-spring, with the exception of some rather remote places, the third wave had run its course.

The Spanish influenza steadily declined through the 1920's, and by 1930, it had all but vanished from the human population of the earth.

http://www.schenectadyhistory.org/health/morris/4.html

 

[Jonesie]

Re: The Pandemic of 1918-19: How It Affected Schenectady, NY

Chapter V: Schenectady in 1918​

With a population of about 90,000, Schenectady was typical of most U. S. cities of similar size. Schenectady was primarily an industrial city and nearly thirty percent of its population were factory employees. By 1915, Schenectady had the highest percentage of factory employees within its population than any other city in New York State. General Electric and the American Locomotive Company employed approximately ninety percent of all factory workers. At the start of the war, G. E. had almost 20,000 employees on its payroll, and ALCO employed about 8000. Owing to the nature of the products made at these two plants, most of the blue collar workers, about seventy percent according to a survey conducted by the New York Department of Labor in 1915, were skilled.

General Electric and ALCO retooled for war production shortly after Woodrow Wilson announced the United States' intention of entering the European conflict. Both plants were kept opened twenty-four hours per day, seven days a week. Overtime was the rule rather than the exception. For the first time, women joined the workforce in great numbers, not only in the factories but many of the municipal jobs vacated by men entering military service. For the military, G. E. produced searchlights, lighting systems for shipyards, and radio equipment. ALCO was under government contract to produce locomotives exclusively for military use.

Schenectady was truly a city caught up in the patriotic fervor of the war. Mayor Charles A. Simon clearly reflected this feeling in the Mayor's Message for the year ending in November, 1918:

We cannot help but reflect with justifiable pride upon the splendid achievements of the people of Schenectady in the common cause which united America and the allied world. It requires no egotism to declare that no municipality in the land has done more than our own City of Schenectady in dedicating itself to the preservation of the ideals of American liberty and free government. This city gave over 5,000 of its sons and daughters toward the great crusade for human justice, it magnificently over-subscribed to every Liberty Loan of the federal government, it gave far more than its quota in the vigorous campaign for true Americanism, and it met every cause in which it was asked to enlist its efforts in a spirit and with an enthusiasm that was characteristic of its best traditions.​

The various war campaigns mentioned by Simon included the Navy's "Appeal for Binoculars," the "Our Boys in France Tobacco Fund," and the War Savings Stamp program. Hardly a day passed when the Schenectady Gazette did not run a patriotic editorial, or that a fund-raising event did not occur. Schenectadians generously contributed to the peachstone drive (used to make gas mask filters) and many started victory gardens to help lessen the homefront consumption of staple foods.

As 1918 wore on, the patriotic spirit seemed to grow stronger. War heroes were brought to the city to speak at bond rallies which often turned into parades down State Street. Many city organizations sponsored evening speeches by politicians, clergymen, civic leaders and military personnel.

The war also caused the citizens of Schenectady, like everyone all over the country, to make certain sacrifices. The "Hoover Economy" (Herbert Hoover was the Wartime Food Administrator) called for people to consume less food, particularly sugar, butter and flour. In late 1917, the government implemented "heatless Mondays" to save coal, and the spring of 1918 brought "gasless Sundays" to conserve gasoline for the war effort. Additional restrictions were placed on tin, leather, steel and rubber.

In 1918 Schenectady was a Republican city. The mayor, as well as all thirteen members of the Board of Aldermen (the Common Council) were Republicans. Each member of the Common Council represented one of the city's thirteen wards. There were eight other city officers: Comptroller, City Treasurer, Corporation Counsel, Commissioner of Public Safety, Commissioner of Charities and Health Officer. The Common Council met on a weekly basis and was responsible for approving nearly all city legislation. As we shall see, the Mayor has the power to call special committees together, and in times of emergency can issue proclaimations in the form of excutive orders.

Union College also underwent many changes because of the war. Shortly after the U.S. entered the war, a group of Union Faculty members went for military training camp near Plattsburgh. One Union professor wrote, "[They] realized that there was danger in the air and that the teachers of young men should know something about military training."

In the fall of 1918, Union (College) became a military post under the authority of the Students' Army Training Corps (SATC). The purpose of the SATC was to select the most promising students and transfer them to Officers' Candidate School. Most of the student body was inducted into the army and given the rank of private. The commander of the unit was a Major Harding who was obviously disappointed that he did not get active service. The Army took over various college buildings for its own use: Alumni Gym became a mess hall, Delta Upsilon (Lamont House) was the infirmary, Psi U and Phi Gamma Delta were officers' quarters, and the Kappa Alpha lodge was used as a recreation hall. Although the Army frowned on fraternity activities, most houses did manage to initiate new brothers, and the houses not taken over by the SATC were left open. The College continued to teach civilian courses, but most of the teaching was geared to military application. In addition, the college still particpated in intercollegiate athletics.

In 1918, there were 105 physicians (an additional fourteen were serving with the military) and two hospitals, Glenridge and Ellis, serving Schenectady. Glenridge, then known as The Schenectady County Tuberculosis Hospital, was used exclusively as a sanitarium for tuberculosis patients. There is no record of any influenza cases being sent there during the pandemic. Ellis opened at its present site in 1906 after moving from Jay Street. The hospital is named for John Ellis, the founder of ALCO, because his son, Charles Ellis, bequeathed $25,000 to the hospital in his father's name. In 1918 the American College of Surgeons, today known as the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals, accredited Ellis for the first time. Ellis Hospital had 23 physicians on staff in 1918. In addition to general practioners, there were specialists in the following fields: Ophthalmology, Gynecology, Obstetrics, Pediatrics, Pathology, Radiology, Dermotology and Neurology. Between June 30, 1918 and June 30, 1919, Ellis treated 3,771 patients, admitted 3,685, and recorded 304 deaths. Influenza accounted for 552 admittances and 108 deaths. Furthermore, 335 admittances and 130 deaths were attributed to pneumonia.

The fall of 1918 began with a public protest against the Schenectady Railway Company which had sought to raise its trolley fare from five to six cents. The company claimed that it had to raise the fare because the War Labor Board had awarded its employees a five cent increase so that the minimum wage went from forty-three to forty-eight cents per hour. The public, claiming that raising the fare was directly in contrast with the patriotic spirit of the war effort, got the company to withdraw the request. Unfortunately, the citizens of Schenectady were about to begin a battle with an enemy from which they could neither see nor protect themselves.

http://www.schenectadyhistory.org/health/morris/5.html

 

[Jonesie]

Re: The Pandemic of 1918-19: How It Affected Schenectady, NY

Chapter VI: The Pandemic Strikes Schenectady​

The first sign of influenza in the City of Schenectady was the death of a Rotterdam Junction woman of pneumonia caused influenza on September 22. Mrs. J. Comisky died in Ellis Hospital after being admitted with her one-year old baby, who was also sick. The next day, the Schenectady Gazette reported that there were at least fifty cases of "grippe" reported in Rotterdam Junction over the previous two weeks.

On September 28, Dr. Walter Clark, the Schenectady City health officer announced that there were "several suspected cases of Spanish Influenza under quarantine for observation within the city proper." Clark said that only one of the cases had actually been diagnosed as influenza, and the others were being observed. He further stated that there was nothing to cause excitement if the "most common precautions were taken."

Unfortunately, Dr. Clark was quite wrong. Less than 3 days later, on October 1, Major McKerracher, the commander of the army detachment stationed at the South Schenectady (Rotterdam) Military Warehouses, reported that forty of his men were on the sick list with influenza, and three had already died. According to the Major's report, most of the cases were among the "susceptible negro troops" of the detachment. Twenty-four of the most serious cases (19 black, 5 white) were moved from the barracks to Ellis on October 2, and they were the only influenza patients in the hospital at the time. After meeting with several other physicians, Dr. Clark announced that he felt the disease would remain confined to the military personnel at the warehouse and spread no further. He did, however, assign two members of the contagious disease staff to be on alert should an emergency arise. Influenza was also reported in Scotia, Glenville and Saratoga on October 2.

The next day the Gazette reported that "contrary to reports yesterday that the influenza epidemic was on the wane? inquiry from many physicians proved that the exact opposite is the truth." There were twenty-two more cases reported at the Military Warehouses, bringing the total to sixty-two, and for the first time, civilian cases were reported within the city. The health department placed the eleven houses under quarantine. All these homes were in the same area, South Schenectady, and close to the site of the Military Warehouses. The obvious conclusion is that the epidemic started at the Military Warehouses and spread to the surrounding neighborhoods. This area was primarily blue collar, and obviously, the workers brought the infection to work with them, and spread it to their fellow workers.

From the beginning of the epidemic, the Gazette reported many instances of entire families stricken by influenza, such as the Stein family of 507 South Center Street. They were one of the first families to contract the disease, and they suffered particularly severe cases. On October 3 and 4, the Gazette published the following reports:

• Oct. 3 ? The Bureau of Charities has made arrangements to care for the Stein family of 507 South Central Street. The Bureau's representative found a pitiful condition of affairs at the? home. A baby was in the crib, dead, and the rest of the family, seven, with the father and mother, all suffering from the disease. Mrs. Krinda, the contagious nurse, had the mother and five children taken to the Altamont Avenue Isolation Hospital, where developments will be watched.
  
• Oct. 4 ? The pitiful case of the Stein family? has excited deep feeling. The second child, two years old, is threatened with death. The entire family was taken to detention Hospital ? all suffering from influenza?

Another black soldier from the Warehouses died on October 4, and the military seemed to believe that even though white civilians were also dying, the disease was strictly a problem among the black soldiers. The general manager for construction at the Warehouses was quoted as saying "The men at the Warehouses, that is the workingmen [white civilians), are unusually free from the disease. The attacks appear to exist almost wholly among the colored soldiers."

Although nothing is known about the conditions in which these troops were housed, if their barracks in anyway resembled the typical barracks found at military bases around the country, it is no wonder that influenza was able to sweep through their detachment like wildfire. The conditions of the war caused great overcrowding in most military bases, and this contributed significantly to the higher attack rates found within the military.

On the same day, Ellis Hospital appointed Drs. S. Ham, Warren Stone and Louis Faust to a committee in charge of influenza cases there. The result of the committee's first meeting was the establishment of an influenza isolation ward. Dr. Faust stated that he felt the epidemic had reached its zenith.

By Monday, October 7, the situation had worsened seriously enough to cause the Mayor to call a special conference with Health Officer Dr. Clark, Commissioner of Public Safety John Alexander, Superintendent of Schools Frank Palmer, Commissioner of Public Works S. M. Bishop, and various other city officials. Fourteen people had died over the weekend, including the G. E.'s General Manager, George Emmons, and the citizenry was beginning to get scared.

The first step the Mayor took was to call Maj. McKerracher at the Military Warehouses to ask him to stop issuing passes to his troops. Dr. Clark also imposed strict quarantines on homes with known cases, and consulted state health authorities to determine the proper course for containing the epidemic.

Dr. Clark reported the morbidity at an estimated 1,000 cases of influenza within the city. Frank Palmer, Superintendent of Schools reported that school attendance was thirteen percent below normal. General Electric and ALCO reported absentee rates as high as fifty percent in certain departments, and the Schenectady Railway Company claimed that sixty of its employees did not show up for work.

Based on these reports and the conditions in other cities, the committee issued two statements: an appeal by the Mayor, and an official order on measures to combat the epidemic:

To The People of Schenectady:

As a result of the conference held this morning the determination to close all schools, theaters, moving picture houses, churches, lodges, and in general, all places of public meeting and entertainment, until further notice, was reached in the interest of public health and safety. Reports coming in through the Health Department reveal the alarming proportions to which the Spanish influenza is reaching throughout the city. The supremacy of the public health demands drastic action to check further spread of the disease. Hearty cooperation on the part of the general public will be the most effective method of conquering it before it gains further headway. We earnestly ask, therefore, that every person in the City of Schenectady follow the recommendations of the Department of Health and assist in the fight to prevent further spread of the disease.

Signed,
Charles A. Simon, Mayor
Dr. Walter M. Clark, Health Officer​

The official order, which was issued by the Commissioner of Public Safety John Alexander, put further restrictions on the number of passengers that could be carried on the city's trolley cars, and ordered all cafes, restaurants and ice cream parlors to sterilize their glasses and dishes.

Following the committee's announcements, Niskayuna, Saratoga and Scotia also decided to close their schools. In addition, G. E. and ALCO postponed indefinitely their employee Liberty Loan parades.

Public reaction to the Committee's proclaimation was mixed. Most people complied willingly, but others, notably the resturant, theater and saloon owners thought the restrictions were unfair. The Gazette printed the following editorial on the day the proclamations were issued:

DO YOUR SHARE

With its schools and all places of public assemblages closed, Schenectady settles down to fight the influenza epidemic in a systematic way. If everyone cooperates with the health authorities and physicians of the city, it may not take long to stamp out the disease. But there are must be care. The first trace of what ordinarily would be called a simple cold must be given the most energetic treatment. It is safest to call a doctor. Use handkerchiefs and disinfectant frequently.

As for the action of the city authorities in closing places where people congregate, it must be said that they were done with fairness and thoroughness. It would have been risky and unsafe to have closed the schools and left the theaters open, and just as bad to have closed the "movies" and left the schools open. It now becomes the duty of parents to see that their children are kept apart from others. It is not necessary to keep them indoors, but there should be no gathering where germs can spread.

There will be a heavy loss all around. That is inevitable. Business wil suffer and not the least will be the fourth liberty loan campaign. That is but part of what we must pay for the plagues that fate sends our way.

There should be no disposition to regard this epidemic with other than full comprehension of its seriousness. It is not a case of a cold from bad weather, but a real epidemic that kills before its grip on a person is realized. The hope that ways will be found to combat it successfully and check its ravages at the onset of a season that ordinarily is well adapted to its spread.​

Three more deaths were reported on October 8 and an estimated three thousand cases. A city poll of undertakers revealed that seventy-five funerals had taken place between October 2 and 7. Dr. Clark recommended that "the numerous funerals in the city be restricted to the immediate relatives, as large funerals are sure breeders of influenza." Church funerals would be sanctioned only if deemed imperative, and even then friends of the deceased would not be allowed to attend. This new restriction caused a mild public outrage when Rev. E. C. L. Schulze, the pastor of the Zion Lutheran Church, died of influenza on October 12. He had been the church's only pastor since its founding in 1880, and if there were no restrictions, hundreds of people would have attended his funeral.

At the October meeting of the Schenectady County Medical Society, a decision was made to draft a set of "rules" to be printed and distributed throughout the city to help inform the public about Spanish influenza. This document read as follows:

Spanish influenza, which is a severe form of ordinary grippe, is a highly communicable disease which affects the nose, throat and lungs. The germs enter and leave the body through the nose and mouth, and if the discharges from the nose and mouth can be prevented from infecting others, the epidemic will immediately disapear.

The society recommends the following rules for the protection of individuals. If you must cough or sneeze, cover your mouth and nose with a handkerchief. If you come in contact with a person coughing or sneezing, protect yourself in a similar manner. Avoid contacts with groups of people. Keep by yourself. When engaged in conversation, do not talk directly into one another's face. Do not visit or come into contact with any of your sick friends, unless it is absolutely necessary for their assistance.

Owing to the unprecendented demands on the depleted ranks of the medical profession, the physicians of this society are finding it practically impossible to attend calls received late in the day. For your protection and securing prom p t attention, calls should be sent in before 8 o'clock in the morning.​

The city issued its first call for volunteer nurses on October 9. Miss Ann McGee was appointed the director of public health nursing and given the job of organizing a corps of women to help relieve the already overworked nurses of the city. The volunteers were asked to go on rounds with the city nurses and offer any possible assistance.

"Twelve More Die as Plague Rages in City" was the front page headline of the Gazette on October 10. Fifty-seven more cases were reported on the ninth, and no official would venture a guess as to how many were not reported. Because of the great number of cases, the city decided to reopen Mercy Hospital, which had closed in 1917 because of finanical reasons. Mrs. Z. Z. Brockett, a nurse at Ellis, was placed in charge of the hospital, and another call for volunteer nurses went out. At Ellis, the situation was poor. Cots were placed in the hall, and extra beds were moved into the wards. Patients were turned away because there was simply no place to put them. An appeal was made to the public to donate any extra bedding for use at both Ellis and Mercy.

Helping the living was not the city's only problem. The morgues were (both municipal and private) all overcrowded, and the undertakers were constantly busy. Another major problem was the lack of caskets in which to bury the epidemic's victims. One undertaker remarked:

We are having great difficulty in not being able to get a sufficient number of caskets. The express company has its troubles too. They have 12 men on the sick list, and today the head of the local division jumped on the wagon, hustled "boxes" aboard and then helped to deliver them himself.

The commissioner of Public Safety issued a notice to resturants that added more precautions:

NOTICE

To the Proprietors and all Employees of Places Serving Food and Drink to the Public:

Until further notice all persons concerned in the serving of food or drink to the public will take the following measures for the protection of the public health:

All dishes, drinking glasses, table cutlery and other utensils used by more than one person must be thoroughly washed and rinsed in boiling water for a period of five minutes, or paper glasses and dishes may be used and then destroyed.

The above applies in particular to ice cream parlors, soda fountains, saloons, cafes, hotels, resturants and lunch rooms. By order of

John Alexander, Commissioner of Public Safety​

As a further preventive measure, Alexander also ordered that the downtown streets be sprayed with a disinfectant to get rid of any germs that may have been present.

On October 11, the Gazette reported that "there seems to be no abatement of the influenza epidemic in Schenectady, on the contrary, every hour sees new cases reported, more calls for doctors who are already over worked, and many fatalities." Fourteen more people had died and 285 new cases were reported. The epidemic was now reaching almost all parts of the city; cases were reported on Albany Street, Crane Street, Foster Avenue, Rugby Road, Eastern Parkway, Hamilton Street, Seward Place and Front Street. There was not a neighborhood that did not have a case.

The overload of patients began to affect the city's physicians. After making his sixty-second call of the day, Dr. E. J. Senn remarked:

I would give $50 for the chance to go home and sleep for 12 hours; I have not had two hot meals in two days ? I just grab a sandwich and a cup of coffee and jump in the machine and begin the weary round of sick, sicker and sickest."​

With some hasty renovations, the situation at Ellis Hospital had greatly improved. A new ward was opened on the second floor, private rooms were turned into doubles or triples, and the sun porches were enclosed. In addition, Albany Medical College "volunteered" some fourth-year students to work at Ellis for the duration of the epidemic. Dr. Louis Faust, a staff physician at Ellis, and a member of the hospital's "influenza committee," announced that the hospital staff was going to try a new treatment for the very severe cases of influenza. The physicians were going to infuse blood from influenza patients into patients with very severe cases. "This is because a patient who has had the disease has formed "anti" bodies which fight the influenza bodies, and these, when injected into the blood of a new patient will help combat the germs."

As the number of cases and fatalities increased, the more the public became frightened. On October 11, the Gazette printed another editorial telling the citizens of Schenectady to remain calm:

KEEP COOL

With Schenectady firmly in the grip of what is known as the Spanish influenza, there is but one thing for all ? sick and well ? to do, and that is to remain calm. The city and local doctors and nurses are doing all in their power to combat the plague, and it will be of immeasurable value to them if every resident, man and woman, remain cool.

Worry over the possiblity of being attacked by the plague is one of the best ways to aid it in its ravages, for worry as much as anything else, weakens the system, and good health is essential in fighting the disease.

Simple and easily followed rules have been laid down by those who are conducting the campaign against the influenza, and they have been published. If you do not know already what to do, learn at once and then obey orders. That is the easiest way for you to keep well and thus help in checking the spread of the plague.

Keep cool!​

In addition to the municipal agencies, the Schenectady chapter of the American Red Cross also put out a plea for women volunteers to help fight the epidemic. "With an ever increasing demand of hospital facilities for nurses and women to assist in homes where entire families have been stricken, the city health department has called on the Red Cross for aid." Besides nurses, the Red Cross wanted volunteers who could cook, clean and manage homes in which the mother was ill. In addition, the Red Cross asked for donations of beds, sheets, blankets, nightclothes and towels.

Another 17 people died on October 11, and more than two hundred new cases were reported. Although this was the highest death toll thus far, Dr. Clark was optimistic: " hope the worst has passed, and yet [we] must safeguard against overconfidence and carelessness." The epidemic was beginning to affect the city's war production; General Electric had nearly 2,000 absent workers (ten percent of its workforce) and ALCO reported that 600 of its workers did not show up for work.

The situation seemed to take a turn for the better on Monday, October 14. There were only five deaths and 146 new cases reported over the weekend. Dr. Clark reiterated his warning to the public on overconfidence: "This is the critical point in the campaign against the plague; we must be careful? it [the public] must not relax its vigilance for one minute."

Dr. Warren Stone, the city Pathologist and Director of Laboratories at Ellis Hospital, began innoculating people aganist influenza with a vaccine that he had developed. Stone, who was trained as a microbiologist, had patients suffering from influenza cough onto a Petri dish that was covered with a nutrient rich agar, thus obtaining a culture of mixed microorganisms. The plates were cooked in an incubator, and then made into a suspension and injected into the patients. The vaccine was first tried on doctors and nurses on October 7. One week later Stone reported that to the best of his knowledge, not one of the approximately four hundred people inoculated had either caught influenza or had an allergic reaction to the injection. Between October 1918 and January 1919, Stone's laboratory produced nearly 34,000 doses of the vaccine, and approximately 15,000 people were innoculated. Dr. Stone's statistics show that while 15% of the general public contracted influenza, only 1% of those innoculated were stricken.

Did the vaccine work? Stone's data indicate the vaccine was effective, but it was probably useless. When Dr. Stone first developed his vaccine, only Ellis hospital staff members, doctors, and nurses who happened to come to the hospital received it. Mass inoculations of the general public, including G.E. and ALCO employees, did not begin until October 24. By that date, the virulence of the epidemic was declining. The more people were exposed to the influenza virus, the more resistant their bodies became to it, i.e. their immune systems were able to make more anti-bodies to fight the infection off. The increase in immune response led to a lower number of fatalities and a greater number of less serious cases (see p. 45). Furthermore, Stone reported that there were no allergic reactions to his vaccine. The probable explanation is that the vaccines prepared were sterile, that is, they contained no microrganisms. During the preparations the cultures from which the vaccines were made were incubated. In all likelihood, the cultures were "overcooked," and all the microorganisms destroyed, rendering the vaccine hypoallergic and totally non-effective. The fact that only one doctor and none of the nurses vaccinated were stricken can also be explained. Quite simply, those who worked in the health professions knew the proper precautions to take in order to avoid becoming victims themselves. Furthermore, it is possible that the physicians and nurses may have had subclinical cases that provided them with immunity to influenza. In short, Dr. Stone was lucky.

The optimism of October 14 did not last very long because nineteen people died that day. Dr. Clark reported that even though the day had brought the highest death toll, the number of new cases was the lowest it had been since the beginning of the epidemic. He was convinced that the worst was finally over. In a strange twist of fate, the local hero, Dr. Stone, was called up for military service. Personal appeals by the Mayor and Schenectady Congressman George Lunn to the surgeon general in Washington were successful and Dr. Stone was allowed to remain in Schenectady. The Commissioner of Public Safety announced two more restrictions: Spitting on the sidewalks and peddling in influenza infested areas was now illegal within the city.

With only nine deaths the following day, the citizens of Schenectady relaxed a little. Dr. Faust stated publically that he felt that the nature of the new cases seemed to be changing:

I have noticed that the character of the cases has changed. The cases I have seen for three days now are largely lighter cases. I assume that those people who were very susceptible are the ones who took it early. The next ones were those who it severely. I think now the less susceptible ones are taking it and it looks to me as if there are not so many serious cases appearing during the last two or three days, although there does not seem to be any let up in the number of new cases appearing.​

Mrs. Arthur Krida, the Director of the City Nursing Services, put out another plea for women volunteers. Feeling that many were afraid to volunteer because they feared infection, Krida said "those who report for service should not labor under the impression that they will be exposed to the disease, because they will be carefully instructed in methods of prevention." Mrs. Krida emphasized the importance of reporting influenza cases to the health department early so that proper care could be given from the disease's onset.

Krida's appeal was echoed the following day by a local physician:

I cannot say too much in praise of the fine, big souled women who are doing so much to help in this crisis; but too, I cannot understand how hundreds of our young women can read and ignore the urgent, vital call sent out every day by your paper [the Gazette] for volunteers to help in this battle aganist the epidemic? The Hospitals need women workers, need them as they were never needed before? I hope sufficient numbers of women will come forward today and offer to help relieve this pressing need.​

After a few days of what seemed to be the beginning of the end, the situation within the city took a turn for the worse. On October 23, Dr. Clark reported that seventeen deaths and 346 new cases were reported in the previous forty-eight hours. "I want to feel optimistic, but Saturday things looked better, and today we are still facing a very critical situation," he said. Schenectady's "Big Industries," General Electric and The American Locomotive Company, reported that thousands of workers were still absent from work. Another 146 cases and 6 deaths were reported the next day. Although the epidemic was still raging, the public was starting to get restless, and the restrictions were beginning to bother people. When asked when the bans would be lifted, Dr. Clark replied:

I shall be guided on that question by the entire medical profession, as I was guided by it in my determination to issue the closing order to safeguard the city.

I feel hopeful that we have the epidemic surrounded, but, there are new cases being reported every ten minutes? You may be very sure I will make certain the local situation is such that no further danger need be apprehended when we declare the ban on public gatherings lifted? I am going to be sure that the public health does not suffer for the benefit of any few citizens.

Clark further stated that a meeting of the city's "medical men" would probably take place on Sunday to discuss the epidemic.​

The same day, the New York State Health Department released a report that revealed that Schenectady was the hardest hit city in the Capital District. The statistics were compiled from telegraphic reports received on a daily basis from each city in the state.

Table Two: Fatalities Caused by the Epidemic up to October 22 Within the Capital District
City
Deaths from Influenza
Deaths from Pneumonia
Total
Albany
176
50
226
Troy
106
48
154
Schenectady
262
49
311
Rensselaer
76
16
92
Cohoes
8
10
18
Watervliet
6
24
30

On Friday, October 25, both G. E. and ALCO announced plans to provide aid for their sick employees. In addition to organizing their own "in the field" medical staffs, both companies offered to provide fuel to any employee who was in need. In a similar vein, a group of downtown merchants drew up a petition asking the Mayor to take more action aganist the spread of influenza. The petition, which had several thousand signatures said:

We, the undersigned citizens of Schenectady? feel the time has come when some more drastic measures must be taken to stamp out this dread disease from our city and in a spirit of good will, and for the welfare of our community, suggest that the mayor call a meeting*? for the purpose of aiding and co-operating in the present crisis.​

[* The petition called for the Mayor to meet with various local religious, merchant and labor leaders.]

"Empty Beds Show Decline of Epidemic" was the headline the Gazette ran on Monday, October 28. Over the weekend, the number of cases reported dwindled. For the first time in weeks, doctors reported that they had no influenza cases to care for. Ellis Hospital had only 132 influenza patients, the lowest number since the second week of October. Dr. Clark, after consulting with many of the city's physicians, said that he found the situation quite encouraging. He again stressed the importance of continued caution and constant attenion for thoses who were still sick.

The following day Mayor Simon issued a statement that partially lifted the ban on public gatherings. He allowed churches to reopen on Wednesday, October 30, and that the schools would reopen on Monday, November 4. The announcement that the churches were going to reopen caused an immediate protest from the theater owners. One man called the Gazette to ask "If the churches, with their packed assemblages and inferior ventilation can be open on Wednesday night, [why should] the theaters be compelled to remain closed although their ventilation systems are more modern and the places are thoroughly disinfected?" As for waiting until Monday to open the schools, Simon defended his decision:

The school physicians, school nurses and a large number of school teachers are actively engaged in the fight aganist influenza. It would be unwise to reopen our schools to 18,000 pupils until the doctors and nurses can be relieved for medical supervision of the schools. It will be impossible to release for school work at an earlier date then this the physicians and nurses who are now serving the Health Department.​

Simon concluded his statement by saying that if the downward trend of the epidemic continued, all theaters, motion picture houses, bowling alleys, billard rooms and any other place that was closed by the official orders could also reopen on November 4.

The number of reported cases continued to fall as the week went on: sixty on Monday, fifty-one on Wedesday, and forty-nine on Friday. For the first time since late September, there were no deaths reported. Again, Clark warned aganist overconfidence: " hope the people of Schenectady do not jump at conclusions ? that is, conclude that the epidemic was stamped out. This would be highly erroneous and would result in much harm."

By Monday morning, Schenectady seemed to return to normal. The Gazette reported that Austria had dropped out of the war, and that the armistice talks were going well. The newspaper picked up on the all but forgotten political campaigns for Tuesday's elections and were full of advertisements for the various candidates. Three local bowling leagues planned to start competion that night, and many city organizations announced that their weekly meetings would take place as usual.

On November 7, the Gazette reported that "although the influenza epidemic in this city is not entirely stamped out, the reports are so light that no apprehension is felt." Mrs. Arthur Krida, the head of city nursing, continued her plea for more volunteers to help deal with the aftermath of the epidemic.

"Armistice Terms Have Been Signed" was the news of Monday morning, November 11. At 2:50 am, it was announced that Germany agreed to end the fighting in Europe. As the news spread throughout the city, more and more people began to take to the streets. By mid-morning, a parade was heading down State Street. The celebrations went on until sundown.

Not surprisingly, the demonstrations seemed to set off a "second epidemic" in the city. Within a week, 45 new cases were reported, but these new ones were of the mild form of the disease. Dr. Clark was sure that the peace celebrations were indeed the cause of this jump in the number of cases:

During the might fine peace processional? many thousands of our citizens were on the streets during the early morning and late at night. Many of these persons were thinly and carelessly clad? [and] God bless them, filled with joy and thanksgiving, and gave little thought to the ever danagerous disease that we had fought so hard and so long? this was dangerous, and the result is with us now.​

The following day, November 20, ninety-one new cases, all of the "mild form," were reported. There were forty-five cases reported on November 23, twenty-three on the 22nd, and ten on November 23. Mayor Simon commended the Health Department on its work: "I am glad to see this sporadic outbreak under control. Dr. Clark and his assistants have gone right to the root of the matter and stamped it out."

The epidemic dragged itself out over the month of December, with a few isolated outbreaks. Although no figures exist on the number of cases there were, sixty-five deaths were reported. (Influenza did not become a reported disease until January, 1919.) Another, much more mild wave struck Schenectady in January 1919. There were 232 reported cases during January and thirty-four deaths.

In the end, influenza claimed the lives of 404 citizens of Schenectady, and infected approximately 15,000. Gerardus Smith, the President of the Board of Directors of Ellis Hospital, wrote the following epitaph for the epidemic:

One of the first we think of in connection with 1918-1919 is the epidemic of influenza. May we never see the like of it again. With our nursing force depleted by sickness, our doctors worn out with work, and ordinary help almost impossible to get, we were taking care of fifty percent more patients than at any other time during the year. Our open porches were enclosed, sun parlors converted into wards, private rooms used for two or more patients, and in some cases, corridors were made up of to accomodate patients? our surgeons co-operated by bringing only acute cases, and people from all parts of the city loaned us cots, cribs, beds, etc. ?

To the people of Schenectady, human spirit prevailed over the ravages of the Spanish influenza.​

http://www.schenectadyhistory.org/health/morris/6.html

 

[Commonground]

Re: The Pandemic of 1918-19: How It Affected Schenectady, NY

There was not a neighborhood that did not have a case.

Thank you Jonesie for posting this. I grew up in Schenectady. My Grandmother lost 2 children to the influenza. None of the sibblings (12 remaining) knew where they ended up....and it was never spoken of again. They were 5 and 6 years old when they passed away. My Grandmother also caught the influenza, but recovered.

 

[Jonesie]

Re: The Pandemic of 1918-19: How It Affected Schenectady, NY

My Grandmother lost 2 children to the influenza. None of the sibblings (12 remaining) knew where they ended up....and it was never spoken of again. They were 5 and 6 years old when they passed away. My Grandmother also caught the influenza, but recovered.

How sad. Your grandparents must have suffered for years over the loss of 2 little children. My condolences to you and your family.

 

[Commonground]

Re: The Pandemic of 1918-19: How It Affected Schenectady, NY

It is sad, but when I heard my Aunts and Uncles talk about "those days", it really was a matter of survival, most of the time. Collecting coal off the tracks for heat...working at the age of 15 to bring money home. Actually, my Grandfather left and my Grandmother was alone to raise them. But the older children took charge, and raised the younger ones. Quite a different world than the one we live in now. They were the most hard working, honest, loyal to eachother family I have ever known. I've very proud to have been a part of them.

 

[Jonesie]

Re: The Pandemic of 1918-19: How It Affected Schenectady, NY

Conclusion​

In every sense, Schenectady's experience with the influenza pandemic of 1918 was not very different from most other cities' across the country. The local epidemic lasted approximately three months, and the city recorded a death rate of 4.5 deaths per thousand. This death rate is in line with the death rates recorded in other cities, such as New York (4.1), San Francisco (4.7) and Chicago (3.5), that were struck at about the same time in the epidemic as Schenectady. (see p. 19 [in Chapter II].)

Not suprisingly, the majority of Schenectady's influenza victims were between the ages of twenty and forty. Although the number of deaths due to influenza in each age group is not recorded, the overall death rates for the twenty to forty group showed a tremendous increase during the epidemic. In September 1918, the last "pre-influenza" month, there were 22 deaths in the twenty to forty age group. During October 1918, 364 people in this group died. Overall, the epidemic caused Schenectady's death rate to rise from 12.90 per thousand in 1917 to 18.00 per thousand in 1918. If the influenza-caused deaths were taken out of the calculation, the city's death rate would have been practically the same as that of 1917. In 1919, the death rate dropped down to 12.28 per thousand, which was quite close to the five year average for 1913-1917 of 12.17 per thousand.

Schenectady's response to the epidemic was typical of many cities. Across the country, schools closed, public gatherings were banned and special restrictions were placed on resturants and saloons. In addition, many cities reported shortages of nurses, doctors, caskets, bedding and food for victims. (See Chapter IV). Vaccines were tried in other cities, as well as many new and unproven methods of treatment. One suprising aspect of Schenectady's experience was that no one in the city advocated the wearing of gauze masks to help stop the spread of the disease.

The epidemic caused Schenectady to take a hard look at its health care capabilities. Dr. Walter Clark, the City Health Officer, opened his report for the year ending October 31, 1918, by saying that Schenectady's Health care system needed many of improvements:

The Health Department started with a Health Officer and one clerk, the city's population at the time being 18,000, and the same system exists today as was used then.

Clark recommended that two deputy Health Officers be appointed to handle of the financial and adminstrative work so the Chief Health Officer could concentrate on medical matters. He also asked that supervising nurses be appointed for the communicable disease, child welfare, tuberculosis, and venereal disease divisions, and that the three temporary communicable disease nursing positions be made permanent.​

Mayor Simon also realized that the city's Health Department needed to be brought up to date:

Nothing is of more importance to a community than the health of its people, and the past year has brought our municipal Health Department very much before the public eye? An epidemic of such serious proportion, and the urgent and oft-repeated requests of the Federal Government that every community throughout the land further extend its health work as a measure of protection? has brought to the front the necessity of some further expansion of the Health Department. In recognition of the urgent necessity of such a step and as a measure of further safeguarding the health of the community, a City Health Center is being established? The city is thus furnished with a central station for all its nurses and clinics.​

The impact of the 1918 pandemic is almost impossible to conceive. Financially, millions, if not hundreds of millions of dollars were lost across the country as a result of store closings, factory shutdowns, and temporary layoffs. The health care bills of both private parties and government agencies were enormous. Life insurance claims numbering in the tens of thousands overwhelmed many insurance companies.

Can a pandemic the magnitude of 1918 strike again? One only has to look at the panic that took place amongst government agencies in 1976, when the country was threatened by the possibility of a Swine Flu epidemic to answer that question. People are frightened by influenza, partially because of our inability to control it. Doctor Charles Cockburn, the head of the World Health Organization's section on viruses perhaps summed it up best:

The influenza virus behaves just as it seemed to have done five hundred or one thousand years ago, and we are no more capable of stopping epidemics or pandemics than our ancestors were. ​

During its ten month pandemic, Spanish influenza, by a conservative estimate, affected one-fifth of the total population of the world. Millions watched their loved ones suffer and die while medical science could do nothing. Two World Wars aside, the Spanish influenza pandemic was perhaps the greatest tragedy of the twentieth century.

The influenza epidemic of [1918], though it had an enormous mortality in the United States and was, in fact, the worst epidemic since the Middle Ages, is seldom mentioned and most Americans have apparently forgotten it. This is not surprising. The human mind always tries to expunge the intolerable from memory, just as it tries to conceal it while current.

[This information is from pp. 58-61 of The Influenza Pandemic of 1918-19 and How It Affected the City of Schenectady, New York by Alan Morris (Schenectady: Union College, 1986) and is reproduced here with the permission of the author. It is in the Schenectady Collection of the Schenectady County Public Library at Schdy R 974.744 Mor. Title inside cover is America and Influenza: The Pandemic of 1918-19 and How It Affected the City of Schenectady, New York.]


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