search

SPANISH FLU VS SALT WATER

Salt water was once thought to assist "flatten the curve" during World War I.
Facebook
Twitter
WhatsApp
Email
Print
These men gargled salt water after a day working at Camp Dix in New Jersey, September 1918, during the influenza pandemic | CNN

During World War 1, reporting of the Spanish Flu was largely suppressed in order to maintain morale among the troops. Spain was not involved in the war and had not imposed wartime censorship. As a result, the media was free to report on it, and coverage of the virus only increased when King Alfonso XIII came down with a nasty case. The Allies only read in-depth accounts from Spanish sources, so they naturally assumed the country was ground zero for the pandemic.

While it’s unlikely to have originated from Spain, scientists are still unsure of its source. Britain, France, Austria, China, and the United States have all been hypothesised to have been the potential birthplaces of the virus. The first known case was reported on 11 March 1918 by a soldier in Haskell County, Kansas, USA.

Children at Sneed Road school gargling as a defense against influenza, 1931 | Getty Images
Schoolchildren gargle as a precaution against an influenza epidemic that happened in England sometime around 1935 | CNN

Certain American cities fared better than others, depending on how they responded. Philadelphia did not cancel the Liberty Loan Parade, which was attended by about 200,000 people, leading to a widespread outbreak in the city. 72 hours after the parade, all 31 of Philadelphia’s hospitals were completely full, and 2,600 people were dead by the end of the week.

St. Louis took the spread of the virus more seriously, and their health commissioner, Dr. Max Starkloff, knew the importance of avoiding crowds as he had written an editorial about it in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Starkloff moved quickly, shutting down schools, theaters, saloons, sporting events, and any large public gatherings. Starkloff received pushback from business owners, but he firmly held his ground alongside the mayor and was able to “flatten the curve” and prevent the hospitals from getting overwhelmed. St. Louis had the lowest death rate among the country’s 10 largest cities.

💧 You might also like 101 YEARS AGO, DRINKING BECAME ILLEGAL.

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

Featured image: Getty Images.
Text: History Cool Kids.

Facebook
Twitter
WhatsApp
Email
Print
Rudolf Dethu

Rudolf Dethu

Music journalist, writer, radio DJ, socio-political activist, creative industry leader, and a qualified librarian, Rudolf Dethu is heavily under the influence of the punk rock philosophy. Often tagged as this country’s version of Malcolm McLaren—or as Rolling Stone Indonesia put it ‘the grand master of music propaganda’—a name based on his successes when managing Bali’s two favourite bands, Superman Is Dead and Navicula, both who have become two of the nation’s biggest rock bands.
Rudolf Dethu

Rudolf Dethu

Music journalist, writer, radio DJ, socio-political activist, creative industry leader, and a qualified librarian, Rudolf Dethu is heavily under the influence of the punk rock philosophy. Often tagged as this country’s version of Malcolm McLaren—or as Rolling Stone Indonesia put it ‘the grand master of music propaganda’—a name based on his successes when managing Bali’s two favourite bands, Superman Is Dead and Navicula, both who have become two of the nation’s biggest rock bands.

Related

WearAMask
In an effort to curb the spread of Spanish Flu in 1918, some states in the US quarantined citizens; others made the wearing of face masks mandatory, at the same time as shutting down “all places of amusement”. According to a law passed in San Francisco in October of that year, on the day that state-wide infections passed 50,000, anyone seen not wearing a gauze face covering was subject to fines that ranged from $5 to $100 and the possibility of 10 days’ imprisonment.
Scroll to Top