Portland in 1918's Spanish Flu Days

Nadene Goldfoot
                                                                     

102 years ago, we were hit with the Spanish Flu in Portland, Oregon  on October 3, 1918.  It was a strain of flu identified as H1N1.  "Spanish flu," a type of influenza virus that took hold of the upper respiratory system. Like the coronavirus today, it caused difficulty breathing. Similarly, it spread nearly invisibly, in the airborne droplets of coughs and sneezes.

As the sickness intensified, so did the pain. Patients would cough blood and start to turn blue from a lack of oxygen. A lethal type of pneumonia set in and caused an uncontrollable hemorrhaging that filled the lungs, leaving victims to drown in their own blood.

Young children and the elderly were vulnerable, as would be expected, but what was baffling about this new strand of flu virus was how it struck otherwise healthy people, particularly those in their 20s and 30s."

One out of every 4 people on the planet were infected.  

I remember hearing that families made wreaths of garlic and draped them around their children's necks to ward off others from being too close in order to protect their children.  People tried to maintain a distance of 4 feet, not knowing that 6 was better and even at that, not enough.  

There were from 50 to 100 million deaths from this new flu.  

Quickly, by February 1919, Oregon had suffered with 3,500 deaths, which seemed to be the end of the pandemic.  That meant that within 4 months, it had come and gone. 

 The government didn't have to think much about it, it struck and left so quickly.  The President at the time was Thomas Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921).  He was born in 1856 and died in 1924 so was 62 years old when this Pandemic struck.  

Please read the article below that is so illuminating about what happened in Portland.  

Resource:

https://www.opb.org/news/article/oregon-portland-spanish-influenza-coronavirus-pandemic-history/