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Therefore, it stood to reason that as long as everyone did what the Board of Health advised—kept their feet dry, stayed warm, ate more onions, and kept their bowels and windows open—they’d be fine.
“When obliged to cough or sneeze, always place a handkerchief, paper napkin, or fabric of some kind before the face,” or “Cover your mouth! Influenza Is Spread by Droplets Sprayed from Nose and Mouth!”
Even sauerkraut and hamburgers were renamed “liberty cabbage” and “liberty sandwiches.”
within seventy-two hours of the parade, every bed in each of the city’s thirty-one hospitals was filled with victims of a new illness called the Spanish influenza, and the hospitals were starting to refuse patients. By day four, the illness had infected over six hundred Philadelphians, and killed well over a hundred in one day.
“Halt the Epidemic! Stop Spitting, Everybody!”
pouches of garlic or camphor balls in cheesecloth around their necks,
“Obey the laws and wear the gauze, protect your jaws from septic paws.”
Black meant the death of an adult; gray an elderly person; white a child.
Formaldehyde tablets. Melt under your tongue. Proven to kill germs and prevent infection
and contagion. Fifty tablets for fifty cents.”
“But whiskey, mostly.”
“Eat More Onions, One of the Best Preventatives for Influenza.”
“The churches and schools are to be closed,”
“All places for gathering, even the factories and moving picture houses, will not be open. No funerals are to be allowed either. Many people are getting sick, so everyone is to stay home.”
sugar cube soaking in...”
“Kerosene?”
The Philadelphia Inquirer scorned the closing of public places: What are the authorities trying to do? Scare everyone to death? What is to be gained by shutting up well-ventilated churches and theaters and letting people press into trolley cars? What then should a man do to prevent panic and fear? Live a calm life. Do not discuss influenza. Worry is useless. Talk of cheerful things instead of disease.
no one dared let anyone but family into their homes, and sometimes not even them.
recommended cure for the flu—onion syrup, chloride of lime, whiskey, Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup—she
“It is doubtful that the city of Philadelphia has, at any time in its history, been confronted by a more serious situation than that presented in connection with the care and burial of the dead during the recent epidemic.”
Then she remembered what Mutti always said whenever she felt confused or unsure, “Just do the next thing.” Whether it was getting dressed in the morning or doing
chores and homework, the best way to move through a complicated situation was to decide what needed to be done next and just do it.
47,000 Philadelphians had contracted the flu and over 12,000 had died during the first four weeks after the Liberty Loan parade.
against the wishes of the State Health Department—churches, schools, vaudeville houses, and saloons began to reopen. However, the end of the war caused a resurgence of the flu due to Armistice Day celebrations and the release of soldiers, so the Committee of the American Public Health Association encouraged shops and factories to stagger their opening and closing hours, and advised people to walk to work when possible instead of using public transportation to avoid overcrowding.
Streetcars, doctors warned, were “seed beds” for the flu.
Then she reminded herself that the city’s problems were a direct result of too many immigrants; the overcrowded tenements filled with foreigners had contributed to the intensity of the flu epidemic—and ultimately the death of her son. She owed it to Wallis to do what she could to keep things from getting any worse.
“We only send white, English-speaking children on the trains. The less desirables are too hard to place.”
There had to be more to it than luck.
“The Philadelphia Tuberculosis Committee released a list of precautions to avoid the flu,
Always use a handkerchief or napkin when you cough or sneeze, sterilize dishes and silverware after use, and do not share drinking cups or towels.
As a result, more than half a million people, in a city of almost two million, contracted the virus over the next six months, and more than 16,000 perished during
By the time the third wave of the flu finished ravaging the city in 1919, untold numbers of children, at least several thousand, had been orphaned.
Why do you think that is? When did you first learn about the 1918 pandemic?
Can you think of any other strange things people did in the past to cure or protect themselves from illness? Are there any folk or natural remedies that you think work?
2020, as the world became aware of the COVID-19 pandemic, did you notice any similar patterns in communication? How were things different from the way they were in 1918?
How much of a difference do you think it would have made if those stories had been printed in the newspaper? Do you think people would have stayed home or gone to the parade anyway?
Have you ever heard of or met anyone with Pia’s ability to sense illness in others? Would you want to be able to tell when other people are sick before they know it themselves? Why or why not?
Though the disease knew no gender, racial, or ethnic boundaries, Philadelphia’s immigrant poor suffered the worst, with the largest loss of life happening in the slums and tenement districts. Why do you think that was? What issues do you think contributed to it? Do...
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Do you think Pia should feel so guilty about losing her brothers? Do you think it would have been helpful if she had told the nuns a...
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she have told Dr. and Mrs. Hu...
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What do you think is her worst crime? Do you think she paid for what she did?
How did you feel about Bernice when you first met her? When did your perception of her change? How and why did it change?
What stories have you read or heard about the selflessness and heroism of today’s healthcare workers? What differences do you see between the healthcare workers in 1918 and those taking care of COVID-19 patients, especially concerning the proper medical equipment and protective gear? Do you think you would be brave enough to help take care of someone with the virus? Why or why not?
it’s impossible not to compare the way American leaders and citizens are dealing with the current crisis. It makes me wonder what future historians and storytellers will say about us when they look back at this time of COVID-19.
Will they admire our willingness to rise to the occasion, or not? Will they think we were more resilient or less? Will they realize we learned from the past or that we were destined to repeat it?
I also hope Bernice’s story will remind readers that empathy for others, no matter their race, nationality, or religion, is always the right choice.