Skip to main content

Another look at the 1918 Influenza Pandemic

Today, we'll be taking another look at the 1918 Flu Pandemic through the lens of our 2020 CoViD-19 pandemic, specifically the coverage and information in the Holland City News Archive.

If we take the 2006 article written by Morens and Taubenberger (cited below), the pandemic's first wave (of three waves) wa described in the United States, beginning in March of 1918. What I find interesting about this is that the Holland City News first mentions the event in October, specifically the October 10 issue. I used the search engine on Hope's digitalcommons website, using the keywords "flu" and "influenza" in their 1918 HCN section.

Figure 1 in the article by Moren and Taubenberger show three distinct peaks in flu deaths: One in July, a second in late October or early November, and a third in late February or early March 1919. Going off of last week's article, we know that Holland had closed churches and gone into quarantine by October 31, yet a short three weeks before, the cities of Zeeland and Holland had reported no deaths: "Although Spanish Influenza has as yet claimed no victims in Holland or Zeeland, it has claimed a man well known in both places in the person of Prof. Herbert Keppel of Gainsville, Florida."

It's a stark contrast to the 2020 pandemic. I can wake up, and before I've even eaten my breakfast, be informed with the "latest developments on Coronavirus in Michigan" from MLive.com. As of 7am local time, the article has current stats and numbers on all confirmed cases and deaths in the state. While churches were cancelled in 1918, and special arrangements had to be made to deliver bulletins to church members, I can pull up livestreams of many different churches and access their bulletins digitally via their websites today. Holland City News only published once a week. I can look at Google Trends going back to 2004 and track the searches that Google has recorded for the term "coronavirus," which were nigh on nonexistent until January 2020, then skyrocketed between February and March.




Works Cited:

Google Trends, trends.google.com/trends/explore?q=coronavirus&geo=US.

Holland City News, "Holland City News, Volume 47, Number 41: October 10, 1918" (1918). Holland City News: 1918. 41. https://digitalcommons.hope.edu/hcn_1918/41

Holland City News, "Holland City News, Volume 47, Number 44: October 31, 1918" (1918). Holland City News: 1918. 44. https://digitalcommons.hope.edu/hcn_1918/44

Morens, David M. and Taubenberger, Jeffery K. 1918 Influenza: the Mother of All Pandemics. Bethesda, MD: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2006. https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/12/1/05-0979_article

Taylor tdesorme@mlive.com - https://www.mlive.com/public-interest/2020/04/wednesday-april-8-latest-developments-on-coronavirus-in-michigan.html?utm_campaign=mlive_sf&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Rebuttal To *Robert Evans: The Joe Rogan Of The American Left*

 User TheOriginalBigDave on Reddit recently wrote the following scathing review of Robert Evans and his content material , instead calling Robert Evans "The Ben Shapiro Of The American Left:" Yeah, you heard me. I know this is the most unpopular thing to post, but it's been bouncing around in my head for a while, and I couldn't think of another place to say it. Know what the difference is between Robert Evans and Ben Shaprio? Ben Shaprio probably makes less money then Robert Evans. Otherwise, they're the exact same. Shapiro says don't trust the media because its controlled by the democrats, Evans says don't trust the media because they manufacture consent. Both of them do the whole contrarian 'Im just saying' bullshit, both of them indirectly encourage streetfighting and buying firearms for 'self-defence', both of them actively want a second American Civil War, and both of them have come real close to advocating for the assassinat...
Post a Comment
Read more

Merry Christmas from Tulip City!

I don't have a full article this week, but here's a little bit of trivia for you: While Holland is a predominantly Christian Reformed city, it was the early Methodists that sprung the Christmas spirit. While an 1867 Sunday School Christmas Program drew nearly 150 youngsters to Hope Church, it was several generations before the Reformed church allowed even Christmas trees into their sanctuaries, as Christmas trees were seen as Pagan symbols. Early Methodists adopted the 19th Century American spirit, and welcomed things like Christmas trees and even Santa Claus into their sanctuaries. I tried to determine exactly how long "several generations" were using Dr. Swierenga's book (and the sources he cites), but could not ascertain the exact time. It's almost certainly somewhere in the vicinity of 50 years (before the Christian Reformed Churches allowed 'pagan' Christmas symbols), which would put their allowing of such things into the early 20th century, but ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Cedar Swamp Village

Holland has only been a settled city for a little over 170 years. But, it's got a dense, unique history. I took an interest in local history during my college years at Northern Michigan University, and was able to take that interest back home after graduation. Recently, I began researching for this blog, and hanging out at the library, poring through the Local History section. I found an old, forboding looking book, entitled Memorials Of The Grand River Valley, flipped open to a seemingly random page, and read the passage "The Indian village, near the southeastern limits of the city,w as also a prominent landing-place. The log-houses, built by the Indians, were of great service to the newly arrived immigrants; and, as it appears, there never has been any trouble between the Red man and the Dutchman." This piqued my interest, as I live near the southeastern limits of Holland. Was there an Indian village in my own neighborhood that history forgot? Memorials ad...
Post a Comment
Read more