Bans on public gatherings. Mask mandates. The difficulty of accurately tracking a virus’ spread through the populace. COVID-19 dominated headlines in 2020. More than 100 years ago, during the 1918 “Spanish flu” epidemic, the news was much the same.
Despite continued dispatches downplaying the Spanish flu’s grip on Atlanta, the virus lingered here for nearly two years, by which time it went from being termed in one Constitution article as “practically a thing of the past” in Nov. 1918 to “the epidemic that is raging here” in Feb. 1920.
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Constitution news reports from late September through early December of 1918 present a striking timeline of city officials’ confusion regarding the spread of Spanish flu around Atlanta.
– Sept. 22: Readers were told Atlanta faced “no immediate danger of an epidemic” and “the Spanish influenza is nothing but an aggravated form of the old-fashioned grip.”
– Oct. 17: A front page article trumpeting the “carnival spirit” of Southeastern Fair attendees details how the estimated crowd of 25,000 “generally” wore masks: “The great throng presented a weird appearance. It was a rare sight to behold an unmasked person and when one was found he was usually held in disdain by the crowd.”
– Oct. 26: Atlanta councilmen vote 19 to 5 to repeal an Oct. 4 ordinance closing public meeting places and forbidding indoor gatherings. Dr. J.P. Kennedy, the city health officer for Atlanta, recommends the order be rescinded.
– Oct. 28: Dr. Kennedy states “(Recent flu) reports were so encouraging that we feel the disease is being stamped out here.” The same article asserts “the ‘flu’ situation in Atlanta is now well in hand and city, state and federal health officials are now getting a little well-earned rest.”
– Nov. 23: An article headlined “No danger of ‘flu’ epidemic in Atlanta” states “while Decatur and Kirkwood are apparently having a return of the influenza trouble, there appears to be no indications in Atlanta which would give cause for uneasiness here,” according to Dr. Kennedy.
– Dec. 8: “More than two months of influenza in Atlanta has resulted in only 351 deaths,” the Constitution reports, citing information from the U.S. Department of Public Health. “This is less than any other Southern city and compares favorably with cities all over the U.S.,” the article continues.
– Dec. 13: Dr. Kennedy tells the Constitution that influenza has been increasing in Atlanta for nearly a month “and we may have another wave of it here,” adding “there is every reason to believe that the mortality rate in Atlanta will increase soon.”
An estimated 926 Atlantans died from all forms of influenza or pneumonia in 1918, according to Census Bureau figures.
This year, COVID-19 has been the confirmed cause of death of 656 people in Fulton County, says the Georgia Department of Public Health.
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