
How the 1918 Flu Spread Across America (2017) - vezycash
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/journal-plague-year-180965222/
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js2
While doing ancestry research years ago, I learned I had a great uncle who
immigrated to America from Romania aboard the RMS Carpathia in 1904. (Eight
years later in 1912, this would be the first ship to come to the Titanic’s
rescue, and six years after that would itself be sunk by a U-Boat.) My great
uncle had left Romania likely to escape anti-semitism. He’d eventually find
his way out to Denver. Sadly, he’d die in 1918 (the same year the Carpathia
was sunk) at the age of 25, very probably from the flu.

This is a picture of him, along with his headstone and declaration of intent
to become a citizen:

[https://www.dropbox.com/sh/l16p7esag82jibs/AADTWigk7acJSrK25...](https://www.dropbox.com/sh/l16p7esag82jibs/AADTWigk7acJSrK2596qAatba?dl=0)

Google Streetview of his Denver, CO address:

[https://goo.gl/maps/DEgz5WWai822](https://goo.gl/maps/DEgz5WWai822)

~~~
JKCalhoun
Doing genealogy, I found I also have a relative that died in 1918 from the flu
pandemic. This was in fact in Kansas (surprised to see Kansas mentioned in the
article).

[https://imgur.com/dKvAf3V](https://imgur.com/dKvAf3V)

This photo was her high school graduation photo. Within a year she would be 1)
married, 2) have a daughter, 3) die from the influenza pandemic one day after
her husband.

Her daughter would be raised by her grandparents, and go on to have a large
family....

~~~
js2
She appears to be wearing a wedding band in the photo already.

~~~
JKCalhoun
Yes, I think she was married shortly after graduating.

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duxup
"The age of the victims was also striking. Normally, elderly people account
for the overwhelming number of influenza deaths; in 1918, that was reversed,
with young adults killed in the highest numbers. This effect was heightened
within certain subgroups. For instance, a Metropolitan Life Insurance Company
study of people aged 25 to 45 found that 3.26 percent of all industrial
workers and 6 percent of all coal miners died. Other studies found that for
pregnant women, fatality rates ranged from 23 percent to 71 percent."

That's really one of the most scary aspects. Fair or not when the very young
or old die of a disease we often think of it differently.

But when the healthiest people start dropping it really drives home how
serious the situation is.

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harias
New York city fined or jailed people for not covering their cough during the
1918 Influenza Pandemic

source : [https://www.cdc.gov/features/1918-flu-
pandemic/index.html](https://www.cdc.gov/features/1918-flu-
pandemic/index.html)

------
Aloha
This is a fantastic book on the topic: [https://www.amazon.com/Great-
Influenza-Deadliest-Pandemic-Hi...](https://www.amazon.com/Great-Influenza-
Deadliest-Pandemic-History-ebook/dp/B000OCXFWE/)

~~~
ruytlm
The author of the linked article is also the author of that book (John M.
Barry).

