Boots Thermometer
boots thermometer, In the fall of 1918, New York City used everything from Boy Scouts to Tammany Hall politicians to combat the worst public health crisis in human history: the Spanish flu. Already the Spanish flu, an avian virus of the H1N1 family, was ravaging U.S Army camps training millions of American troops for World War I. Before it ended, the Spanish flu claimed at least 50 million lives around the globe and 675,000 in the United States, according to the CDC. “The 1918 influenza pandemic was the deadliest event in all of human history,” scientist David M. Morens of the National Institute of Health told the New York Times in 2009. “It killed more people than any war, any pandemic, the Black Death, AIDS, you can pick your terrible event. Everybody lost a friend or family member.”
boots thermometer - New York City sprang into action in the overwhelming “second wave” of the epidemic from September-November 1918. The “flu czar” was Public Health Commissioner Dr. Royal S. Copeland. Copeland changed daily routines for New Yorkers in the fall of 1918 in order to focus on the number one priority of the day: prevention. Among his measures: Staggered business hours Factories, businesses, and theaters were assigned staggered start times to reduce train and subway crowding.
boots thermometer, Women wear cloth surgical-style masks to protect against influenza. A worldwide influenza epidemic killed 20 million people between 1918 and 1920. Schools stayed open Copeland reasoned that the schools in 1918 were often more sanitary than the homes. Teachers checked children daily and sent home kids with symptoms. “I believe that the children are better protected in the schools than they would be in the streets,” Copeland told the New York American on Sep. 28, 1918. Quarantines
boots thermometer - The sheer number of cases prevented full isolation. Influenza cases in private homes and apartments stayed put. Victims from crowded boarding houses and tenements were taken to municipal hospitals. Checking ships The flu arrived in New York on inbound vessels, so port authorities began stopping and testing crew and passengers. “Spitting spreads death” Remember 1918 was the era of tobacco chewing and spittoons. Boy Scouts handed out “no spitting” cards and courts fined numerous spitters. Press and official leaflets urged citizens to cover their coughs and sneezes, stay out of crowds and call a doctor right away if they showed flu symptoms.
boots thermometer - Gathering data Copeland needed data on how the flu was spreading. Via the New York Times, Copeland called on the Democratic political machine known as Tammany Hall to fan out in the precincts to help identify and count Spanish flu sufferers. He also began requiring doctors to report their flu cases. CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR OPINION NEWSLETTER The media The savvy Dr. Copeland spent some of his emergency funding on posters and leaflets to get the word out on prevention and what to do. He also briefed the press often, as newspapers like the New York Times and New York Evening Post played a huge role in updating the public and carrying health messages.