The Evening Public Ledger yesterday, September 17, 1918 had a page 13 article headlined: Influenza Finds Camp Lee Alert, Immediate Quarantine for Soldier Victims of 'Spanish Grip', Few Serious Cases, 8000 Pennsylvanians Sleeping Under Canvas - Additional Barracks Planned". The rest of the article hardly mentioned influenza, mostly commenting on the increased value of work done by women at the barracks.
Today's Evening Public Ledger has the following front page article:
Influenza appeared in the spring of 2018 but was relatively mild. By the summer there was a resurgence of influenza in Europe, this time in a more deadly form. Conditions related to war in Europe and the transportation of troops back and forth across the Atlantic likely enhanced the spread of the disease.
The excellent November 2017 issue of Smithsonian explains the approach towards the increasing flu cases in the Philadelphia area:
"At [President] Wilson’s urging, Congress passed the Sedition Act, making it punishable with 20 years in prison to 'utter, print, write or publish any disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language about the form of government of the United State...or to urge, incite, or advocate any curtailment of production in this country of any thing or things...necessary or essential to the prosecution of the war.' Government posters and advertisements urged people to report to the Justice Department anyone 'who spreads pessimistic stories...cries for peace, or belittles our effort to win the war.'
Against this background, while influenza bled into American life, public health officials, determined to keep morale up, began to lie.
Early in September, a Navy ship from Boston carried influenza to Philadelphia, where the disease erupted in the Navy Yard. The city’s public health director, Wilmer Krusen, declared that he would 'confine this disease to its present limits, and in this we are sure to be successful. No fatalities have been recorded. No concern whatever is felt.'
The next day two sailors died of influenza. Krusen stated they died of 'old-fashioned influenza or grip,' not Spanish flu. Another health official declared, “From now on the disease will decrease.”
The next day 14 sailors died—and the first civilian. Each day the disease accelerated. Each day newspapers assured readers that influenza posed no danger. Krusen assured the city he would “nip the epidemic in the bud.'"
The PBS American Experience also has recent documentary about the 1918 influenza pandemic including related articles.
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