How the 1918 Flu Spread Across America (2017)

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...

Google Streetview of his Denver, CO address:

https://goo.gl/maps/DEgz5WWai822

"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.

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

This is a fantastic book on the topic: https://www.amazon.com/Great-Influenza-Deadliest-Pandemic-Hi...