"CONTINUED THREAT TO NYC'S FOOD SUPPLY COULD LEAD TO OUTBREAKS"

HEALTH COMMISSIONER WARNS OF CHOLERA, TYPHUS & PLAGUE

New York City (JFK+50) On April 13, 1920, New York Health Commissioner Royal  S. Copeland* warned the public that the continued threat to New York City's food supply could lead to outbreaks of cholera, typhus and bubonic plague.

The commissioner said that starvation would make people more susceptible to disease.  The threat to the food supply was a direct result of the continued railroad strike.

Commissioner Copeland received a good deal of positive press coverage for his efforts to calm the public during the Flu Epidemic of 1918.**

*Royal Samuel Copeland (1868-1938) was born in Dexter, Michigan & graduated with a medical degree from the University of Michigan.  RSC served as professor of Ophthalmology & Otology at the UM Medical School (1895-1908).  He was mayor of Ann Arbor (1901-1903) & US Senator (D-NY, 1923-1938).

**Flu Epidemic of 1918 (a.k.a. Spanish Flu Epidemic) 1918-1920 infected 500 million people worldwide with deaths estimated to be between 25 & 39 million.  This epidemic was particularly deadly for young adults.

SOURCES

"Doctor In the Senate:  Royal S. Copeland of New York," FOCUS, April 13, 2020, www.knoxfocus.com/

"Today-100: April 13, 1920:  of plague, overalls, and metros," www.whateveritisimagainstit.blogspot.com/ 

Dr. Royal S. Copeland

Bain News Service (1920)

Library of Congress Photo 

VICTIMS HAD A BLUE TINT & COUGHED UP BLOOD

FIRST CASE OF DEADLY SPANISH FLU REPORTED

Who Knows Where? (JFK+50) On March 8, 1918, the first case of the so-called Spanish Flu* was reported.  The disease spread quickly becoming the worst world wide epidemic in history.  It was so bad that more people died as a result of the flu than World War I.

It is roughly estimated that 50 to 100 million people died as a result of contracting the Spanish Flu, but ironically the epidemic did not originate in Spain.  Dan Vergano of National Geographic reports that today's historians believe the origin of the pandemic was the transport of 96,000 Chinese laborers across Canada in sealed railroad cars.

As far as the symptoms, Tony Long writes...

"Victims typically had a blue tint to their faces, and the lungs were severely congested, causing the coughing up of blood..."

So why did they call it the Spanish flu?  

One good possibility is the fact that reports of the epidemic were restricted due to war censorship in Germany, United Kingdom, France and the United States while in neutral Spain complete reports were made available. 

 *Spanish Flu Pandemic infected 500 million persons worldwide in 1918 making it one of the deadliest natural disasters in history.  While it is clear at least 20 million people died from the effects of the disease, estimates range up to 100 million.

SOURCES

"March 8, 1918:  Killer Influenza", by Tony Long, March 8, 2011, www.wired.com/

"1918 Flu Pandemic That Killed 50 Million Originated in China, Historians Say", by Dan Vergano, National Geographic, January 24, 2014, www.nationalgeographic.com/

Influenza Hospital
Camp Funston, Kansas
US Army Photo