Woodstock Occurred in the Middle of a Pandemic

[thor447]

I never made that connection. I'd think that Woodstock probably created one or two (thousand)!!

 

[ignerntbend]

Some say the Spanish Flu helped end WW1 as most of the soldiers and politicians were too sick to continue.

Hypotheses about the source of the flu have varied but investigative work by virologist John Oxford and his team identified one of the camps on the Western Front as being at the centre of the flu outbreak. So how significant was the influenza outbreak on the casualties at the end of the First World War?

“In the American Army it was hugely significant. I mean more American soldiers died of the influenza than died from German action.” Says Professor John Oxford, a virologist and expert on influenza.
https://www.open.edu/openlearn/hist...t-was-the-impact-spanish-flu-on-the-armistice

The Spanish flu had it's origins in Kansas. It's called the spanish flu because the spanish press was the first to take notice of it.

 

[dennishoddy]

The Spanish flu had it's origins in Kansas. It's called the spanish flu because the spanish press was the first to take notice of it.

While it’s unlikely that the “Spanish Flu” originated in Spain, scientists are still unsure of its source. France, China and Britain have all been suggested as the potential birthplace of the virus, as has the United States, where the first known case was reported at a military base in Kansas on March 11, 1918. Researchers have also conducted extensive studies on the remains of victims of the pandemic, but they have yet to discover why the strain that ravaged the world in 1918 was so lethal.

First "known" case being the clue.
The first "known" case of Covid was in January according to early reports. Now after action reports say the virus may have been around and infecting Americans in December.

https://www.history.com/news/why-was-it-called-the-spanish-flu

 

[ConstitutionCowboy]

Perhaps we have gone soft. Perhaps all pandemics are not the same. Perhaps both.
It would be interesting to know what public health officials were saying at the time. Good food for thought here but more information seems needed.
In the early 1900's If I recall correctly we were severely harmed by tuberculosis. One public health official starting blaming beards for the spread of the disease. To this day many people consider beards "dirty". They were well-loved before that time.

There was a difference back then. Stalin had a beard, Gabby Hays had whiskers.

Woody

 

[ConstitutionCowboy]

During the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic the .gov did not a single thing. We had 675,000 deaths in the U.S. They did NOTHING! How did we ever survive!

You had to be healthy.

Woody

 

[ConstitutionCowboy]

December of 1968, I had just gotten back to the States from serving in Pakistan, and then was stationed north of San Francisco until October of 1969. Somehow, we (my new bride and I) managed to avoid this event. To be honest, I don't think I remember anything about it. Maybe it was all an east coast thing.

You didn't hear about it because there was no politically expedient need at that time.

Woody

 

[JD8]

You had to be healthy.

Woody

Actually, Spanish Flu was known for killing healthy, young people.

 

[Chief Sapulpa]

... I was floating around the Med on the Forestall at that time.

Woody

I was in the Med too but I was on the Little Rock.

Sent from my moto g(6) using Tapatalk

 

[O4L]

We didn't have the 24 hours a day news back then to stir everyone up and put them into panic mode.

Now, once everyone started looking toward the powers that be for their salvation, it became the perfect opportunity to gage how much freedom the people are willing to give up to feel secure.

 

[RickN]

I left out the right context. They did nothing to those that weren't sick with it. Of course they quarantined the sick. Everybody has been doing that since medieval times.

Incorrect.

" Public gatherings and the coming together of people in close quarters was seen as a potential agency for the transmission of the disease. The public health authorities believed that good ventilation and fresh air were "the best of all general measures for prevention, and this implies the avoidance of crowded meetings," (BMJ, 10/19/1918). This translated into the controversial and imperative measure of closing of many public institutions and banning of public gatherings during the time of an epidemic. "

" In the United States, the Committee of the American Public Health Association ( APHA) issued measures in a report to limit large gatherings. The committee held that any type of gathering of people, with the mixing of bodies and sharing of breath in crowded rooms, was dangerous. Nonessential meetings were to be prohibited. They determined that saloons, dance halls, and cinemas should be closed and public funerals should be prohibited since they were unnecessary assemblies. Churches were allowed to remain open, but the committee believed that only the minimum services should be conducted and the intimacy reduced. Street cars were thought to be a special menace to society with poor ventilation, crowding and uncleanliness. The committee encouraged the staggering of opening and closing hours in stores and factories to prevent overcrowding and for people to walk to work when possible (JAMA, 12/21/1918)."