Odd Old News: The Flu Season in Humboldt County in the Winter of 1919-20

Two men in suits seated beside a child in an infirmary full of empty beds at Dr. Horel’s sanitarium which existed between 1893 and 1918 at 13th and J Streets in Arcata. [Photo by George W. Miller located in the Palmquist collection in the Humboldt Room at HSU]

The 1918-1919 so called “Spanish flu” pandemic was estimated to have killed between 17 and 100 million people worldwide, but Humboldt County had a relatively mercifully mild outbreak, due primarily to preventative measures being taken and the area’s isolation in the pre-highway era. Nevertheless, people were aware of the severity of the pandemic elsewhere, and the question of what the 1919-20 winter flu season would hold for Humboldt County was undoubtedly on the minds of many.

When the second wave of the pandemic was sweeping across the country in the fall of 1918, the Surgeon General’s release of a bulletin to the American public made the headlines: “UNCLE SAM’S ADVICE ON FLU U. S. Public Health Service Issues Official Health Bulletin, on Influenza. LATEST WORD ON SUBJECT. Epidemic Probably Not Spanish In Origin—Germ Still Unknown—People Should Guard Against ‘Droplet Infection’—Surgeon General Blue Makes Authoritative Statement”(Blue Lake Advocate, 10/19/1918)

The name “Spanish Influenza” for the virus was known to be false at the time. Apparently unaware of the Kansas military base outbreak, the misnomer was acknowledged, and an Asian source suspected:
“Although the present epidemic is called ‘Spanish Influenza,’ there is no reason to believe that it originated in Spain. Some writers who have studied the question believe that the epidemic came from the Orient and they call attention to the fact that the Germans mention the disease is occurring along the eastern front in the summer and fall of 1917…(BLA, 10/19/1918)

The difference between the seasonal flus, which usually occur in the cold months, and influenza, was noted: “epidemics of influenza may occur at any season of the year. Thus the present epidemic raged most intensely in Europe in May, June and July”… and ordinary flus “do not spread through the community so rapidly or so extensively as does influenza…In most cases a person taken sick with Influenza feels sick rather suddenly…ordinarily, the fever lasts from three to four days and the patient recovers. But while the proportion of deaths in the present epidemic has generally been low, in some places the outbreak has been severe, and deaths have been numerous, when death occurs it is usually the result of a complication.” Deaths were recorded at the time as “pneumonia following flu.”

The risks of staying at home in unventilated rooms, and the benefit of fresh air were highlighted:
“So far as a disease like influenza is concerned, health authorities everywhere recognize the very close relation between its spread and overcrowded homes. While it is not always possible, especially in times like the present, to avoid such overcrowding, people should consider the health danger and make every effort to reduce the home overcrowding to a minimum. The value of fresh air through open windows cannot be over emphasized. When crowding is unavoidable, as in street cars, care should he taken to keep the face so turned as not to inhale directly the air breathed out by another person.It is especially important to beware of the person who coughs or sneezes without covering his mouth and nose. It also follows that one should keep out of crowds and stuffy places as much as possible, keep homes, offices and workshops well aired, spend some time out of doors each day, walk to work if at all practicable —In short, make every possible effort to breathe as much pure air as possible. …In all health matters follow the advice of your doctor and obey the regulations of your local and state health officers.” The Bulletin was informational and cautionary but did not convey the virulence of the 2nd wave outbreak.

Acting Surgeon General Victor Vaughn had seen much horror in September of 1918 when he visited Army camps: “one of the factors that made this so particularly, frightening was that everybody had a preconception of what the flu was: it’s a miserable cold and, after a few days, you’re up and around, this was a flu that put people into bed as if they’d been hit with a 2 x 4. That turned into pneumonia, that turned people blue and black and killed them. It was a flu out of some sort of a horror story. They never had dreamed that influenza could ever do anything like this to people before.”

Having seen the damage done to people’s lungs by the disease, the Surgeon General’s Bulletin ended with the warning “As Dangerous as poison Gas Shells”(BLA, 11/19/1918).

Masks
Mask wearing at this time was a means of preventing infection from external sources, and the notion of preventing spread from the non-symptom bearing infected was unknown. Arguments about the efficacy of masks appeared then as now, masks were obviously much more primitive in those times, and understanding of how they work limited to the science of the day:
“The commonest argument against the flu masks, the writer notes, is that the openings in the mask bear the same relation in size to a microbe as a barn door to a mouse. For example, a doctor recently wrote to a daily paper protesting against the use of these masks, saying: ‘If the gauze worn over the face is expected to prevent the entrance of micro-organisms to the respiratory tract it seems that the absurdity would be apparent. In the case of microbes that are inhaled, it seems likely that most of them are either attached to particles of dust or to small globules of moisture. In either case, if the mask stops the grain of dust or globule of water the germ itself is caught also’—From the Literary Digest”(BLA, 1/18/1919). Six-ply gauze became mandatory in some areas.

The Winter of 1919-1920 Flu Season
After having passed through the second and third waves of the influenza pandemic, Humboldt County had relaxed social restrictions by the spring of 1919. However, deaths from complications arising from previous severe cases of the flu continued sporadically through the summer of 1919.

The Blue Lake Advocate did not report any cases of the flu in the winter of 1919-1920 until late January and early February when a small surge in cases began to appear in the county:

“’There is no cause for alarm yet,’ was the opinion expressed by County Physician Wallace and City Health Officer Chain over the flu Thursday night. The Times states that in Eureka there have been no new cases reported in the last three days, seven now being the total. Both Dr. Wallace and Dr. Chain said they were prepared to handle an epidemic with the aid of the Red Cross.”(BLA, 2/7/1920).

As flu cases spread, once again preventative measures were taken, the infected were quarantined at home, schools and other public meeting places were closed. Mandatory mask wearing does not appear to have been legislated this time however.

A review of Blue Lake Advocate articles shows how different communities experienced the winter flu season.
“The flu situation in Crescent City and Requa is reported to be improving. Quite a number of people in our sister county have been ill with the disease” (2/14/20).
“The influenza is gradually losing its grip on the people of this vicinity. Only one case has been reported in Blue Lake and about 38 at Korbel”(2/14/20).
By the third week of February schools were closed in Eureka.

“FORTUNA, Feb. 18. —While the “flu” is prevalent in Fortuna and the surrounding communities it is pronounced by the two physicians of this city, Drs. Jorgensen and Rockwell, as being in a very light form, and thus far no cases of pneumonia have developed among the flu patients. However, every precaution is being taken by the local board of health to prevent the spread of the disease and all public meeting places have been closed for the present, which includes the churches, theatre, schools, club room, pool hall and lodge rooms”(1/21/20).
Blue Lake itself had “about 60 cases of flu in that town and the public schools are closed on this account”(1/21/20).

Fears of a another large outbreak prompted local hospitals to plan:
“Eureka Hospitals Fear Flu– A petition from the Union Labor and Sequoia hospitals was presented by Dr. W. J. Quinn and Dr. H. G. Gross respectively that the influenza patients be removed from these hospitals to the county hospital where they would pay the $1.25 a day charged by the pay department of the county hospital. This move was made to avoid a possible congestion in the event of an epidemic, it was announced, but no action was taken by the board. It was pointed out that the Northern California hospital could again be opened if necessary”.

But another pandemic type spread did not occur, most cases were thought to be mild, and though the Blue Lake Advocate record may not be complete, only four or five new deaths county-wide were attributed to the flu and complications. In late February the Eureka pharmacist reported that the ‘flu’ situation in Eureka was improving, and throughout March preventative measures were relaxed around the county. “There are no more “flu” patients in Blue Lake”(3/13/20).

“The flu, Dr. Chain of Eureka says, is practically gone and the Red Cross flu hospital in that city was ordered closed Wednesday, Miss Ida George of Korbel, who died there that day from the epidemic, being the last patient”(3/20/20).

“The Scotia Club will give a grand ball in the Scotia park pavilion this Saturday night, March 20th. This is the first dance to be held in that section of the county since the flu started some weeks ago. The flu is about over around there” (3/20/20). The last school to re-open in the county was in Korbel at the end of March.

The medical community and 37,000 people of Humboldt county, had no doubt worried, wondering if the dreaded Pandemic strain of influenza would return in the winter of 1919-20. Fortunately, it did not, and as was expressed at the end of the 3rd wave in 1919: “the people in general feel greatly relieved to know that this great scare, which in many cases was not a scare, is over.”

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