Tuesday, October 11, 2005

87 years ago today - October 11, 1918

1918 pandemic, war, and small town life, as reported by the local paper (beginning Oct 1). The virus is in San Francisco, and has hit Redding (and, we learn today, other Northern California towns), but hasn't arrived in Nevada County yet. But it is killing our enlisted men...
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(three paragraphs at bottom of the front page:)
Dunsmuir has 300 cases
effect: the further crippling of train service, already felt at Gerber in Tehama County where there are a large number of cases.

p. 3, Saurin King will be buried in Greenwood Cemetary.

(nothing on flu on the editorial page)

p. 5, Precautions Taken to Stop Measles
State Health Officer is paying attention to the present outbreak of measles in Nevada City.

pp. 6 and 7 have a long Bulletin on Spanish Flu from the Surgeon General of the U.S. Health Service.

p. 8, Melvin L J Frandy dies in Virginia Camp
Age 21, born March 26 1897; graduated from the University of California in Mechanical [and?] Electrical Engineering; died of influenza at Camp Humphrey. Few young men of Nevada County had a more promising future...his death is a severe blow.

Esther Hartung is here from Colfax for her cousin Saurin King's funeral.

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October 11, 2005

Actually published Oct 10, a beyond excellent* piece by Sandman, The Flu Pandemic Preparedness Snowball (although his his criticism of the Reveres of Effect Measure does seem off the mark; nicely expressed here.). Read (or at least wander through) this and also Dr. Grattan Woodson's pandemic preparedness handbook (PDF, via) before you read anything else on bird flu. It's time well spent.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Few young men of Nevada County had a more promising future...his death is a severe blow.

What affects me most about flu is the sorrow that will come. Life should be joyous. Grief is inevitable, but when it is on a massive scale and did not have to be, it's very hard to accept. It is the young and promising we have to worry about. That just shouldn't be.