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10/11/1918, p. 7

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10/20/1918, p. 6

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11/28/1918, p. 1

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11/28/1918, p. 1

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12/5/1918, p. 5

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"Or one-third the number dying from influenza."

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"Or one-third the number dying from influenza."

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World War I had been raging for four years. As the war reached its conclusion on November 11, 1918, the world began to take stock of the war and the devastation that it left behind. The cost of the war in terms of loss of life, geographic damage, and economic impact were hard to imagine, even in real time. In addition to the Great War, however, the world was also fighting another battle by November 1918: the influenza pandemic.

While the Great War significantly impacted the United States, our brief entry in the war dulled the effects, especially when compared to other nations involved. However, by October 1918 the United States, like many nations around the world, was already seeing the impact of the outbreak and rapid spread of the influenza virus. According to the numbers printed here, 82,306 Americans died from influenza from September 14th to November 10th compared to 27,789 Americans that had died overseas.

It is easy to recognize historic patterns in trends in the present and apply them to people living in the past. Communities and cities had already been curtailing the outbreak's impact as much as possible in the form of information and awareness, closures and postponements, and what we would call today distancing measures.The end of the war resulted in widespread celebrations and parades that were likely premature, the timing of which coincided with the end of the second wave and beginning of the third wave by the start of 1919. However, according to this article from the November 28th edition of the Herald and Tribune, Americans were already aware of the devastation of the influenza pandemic and recognized that it was already more dangerous for Americans than the Great War had been. They were already aware in real time that they were witnessing two singularly devastating events and trying to understand their impact as much as possible.

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"Within a few weeks the peak should be reached."

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"Within a few weeks the peak should be reached."

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The outbreak of the influenza pandemic in 1918 coincided with the end of World War I. In many ways the two events are inexorably linked. Either event would have had a profound individual impact on the world, but when taken together they were extremely devastating.

The United States entered the war in April 1917 and by that summer had instituted a draft to raise the numbers of the armed forces and established training camps around the country. As the war entered its final year in 1918 the increased number of soldiers fighting abroad and international mobilization coupled with large numbers of soldiers stationed domestically created an atmosphere that would allow the disease to spread quickly once the outbreak began.

This article ran on October 11, 1918, in the Johnson City Staff newspaper. It details the impact that the influenza pandemic was having on the armed forces by the end of September. This particular article focuses on fatalities on home bases, noting that the death rate increased by 250% from the week ending September 27th to the following week when the pandemic was raging in full effect. The surgeon general noted that the peak of the outbreak would be reached within a few weeks. The peak of the second wave would be reached during that time, and a third phase would begin anew by the start of 1919.

The 1918-1919 influenza pandemic had three stages. The first stage in spring 1918 was the smallest of the three. The second phase, which ran from September through November 1918, was exceptionally deadly, especially in conjunction with the end of World War I. The large clusters of soldiers stationed at camp, mobilized internationally, and hospital staff shortages due to medical staff deployments for the military all created a preexisting atmosphere that would allow the pandemic to spread quickly once the second phase broke out in September.

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Audio/Video

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12/5/1918, p.5

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