October 1, 1918 - Influenza

The Philadelphia Inquirer has its typical war-related headlines on page 1, but does not address influenza until page 4.  There are then several headlines, mostly about illness in areas surrounding Philadelphia: "Epidemic Slows Up, Deaths Increase", "Influenza May Close Theatres and Schools", "Wilmington Has 2400 Cases of Influenza", "2000 Children Have Influenza at Camden", "Norristown in Throes of Serious Epidemic", "200 Influenza Cases at Gloucester City", "500 Cases of 'Flu' Reported in Bristol".

Meanwhile in today's The Philadelphia Inquirer obituary page there are five columns of deaths with at least 40 individuals identified per column, i.e. at least 200 deaths.  One year ago, October 1, 1917 there were less than 2 1/2 columns of deaths in the obituary section, approximately 100 individuals.