Letter Reveals Much About 1918 Flu Pandemic

Rather than look at today’s version of a flu pandemic, which involves hundreds of cases at most, I wanted to find out what it was like to live during the influenza outbreak of 1918 when 50 million people around the world died. A visit to the National Archives produced a letter written by a volunteer nurse to her friend at the Haskell Indian Nations University in Kansas, Oct. 17, 1918.

Along with several photos from the era, I’ve reprinted the text of that letter here. [Note: The content of this letter will surprise you -- guaranteed!]

FLU PANIC: SCHOOL CLOSED BECAUSE OF ONE PROBABLE CASE

ONE PROBABLE CASE?

Perhaps my memory is faulty, but I don't recall anything quite like this level of panic before except in the days of polio outbreaks:

Rockville High School [one of the largest high schools in the D.C. area] is closed "until further notice," officials said last night, because authorities have reported a probable case of swine flu involving a student.

[...]

"A decision was made to close the school Thursday on the advice of the Centers for Disease Control and the Maryland state health department," Tillman said. "We are taking immediate steps to close the school."...

As most know, I am a teacher. I have to say that over the past few days I have noted that my students are stressed out over the "pandemic." In fact, some of my students are downright scared. One is even stuttering nervously every time he tries to participate in class discussions.

I haven't seen this level of fear since the days of the D.C. Snipers.

Is this flu outbreak a case of the perfect storm, a "crisis" to promote BHO's upcoming "health care reform" and the globalization of health care?

Flu Fears Demand We Cancel Cinco de Mayo

With the number of Swine Flu cases growing fast and fears of a pandemic dominating the news, many Americans are calling for the nation’s southern border to be sealed to stem the flow of individuals — legal and illegal immigrants — from Mexico and beyond who might be infected with the new flu “cocktail.” I suggest we take matters one step further and cancel all Cinco de Mayo activities next week.

Click here to learn more about this bold suggestion.

Will Liberals Stand for Isolation and Quarantine?

Experts at the Centers for Disease Control address the subject of voluntary or involuntary placement of individuals in isolation or quarantine this way:

To contain the spread of a contagious illness, public health authorities rely on many strategies. Two of these strategies are isolation and quarantine. Both are common practices in public health, and both aim to control exposure to infected or potentially infected persons. Both may be undertaken voluntarily or compelled by public health authorities. The two strategies differ in that isolation applies to persons who are known to have an illness, and quarantine applies to those who have been exposed to an illness but who may or may not become ill.

In a post almost two years ago, I cited a Washington Post article in which writer Peter Finn pointed out that such measures might not be far away.

Read more about it here.