Pandemic compared to 1918 in Platte County

Mark DeLap
Posted 12/16/20

In 1918 the Spanish Flu hit originally in the spring, much like COVID did in 2020, 102 years ago. The first wave was not as devastating, and as a result, many took it for granted and thought that it was just “the cold and flu season.”

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Pandemic compared to 1918 in Platte County

Posted



WHEATLAND– It’s interesting to be living in the cliché’ that says that history repeats itself.
To bear that out, you have to go back to 1918 and find out if we are living in a rerun in the made for TV series called “life as we know it.”
In 1918 the Spanish Flu hit originally in the spring, much like COVID did in 2020, 102 years ago. The first wave was not as devastating, and as a result, many took it for granted and thought that it was just “the cold and flu season.”

By the time the second wave hit, millions were dying. It didn’t even get publicized in Platte County until October of 1918. The headline reads, “INFLUENZA EPIDEMIC HITS PLATTE COUNTY.” Interesting that some of the same fear that struck then has struck now. Not only the same fear, but some of the same debates.
The Times reports, “The epidemic of Spanish Influenza which has been sweeping over the east, smiting the war training camps and causing thousands of deaths has invaded Wyoming, and Platte County people are now struggling with it.”
Not only did it go public, but as today, the reports are confirmed that it was indeed Spanish Flu that had reached Wyoming soil.
“Wheatland hospital has proven conclusively that the prevailing epidemic is the same that is effecting other parts of the country,” the Times reported. “The hospitals at Casper and Denver are reported to be filled with “flu” patients.”
The pandemic affected Platte County schools as well.
“So many of the school children were ill that school was dismissed last Friday because of lack of attendance,” the Times reported. “Medical authorities state that the disease seldom causes serious results in people of strong constitutions, but those inclined to weakness are apt to develop pneumonia from the influenza, often with fatal results.”
In another article the Wheatland Times reported, “All efforts to stop its ravages seem to have failed so far as quarantine measures go. The imposed “flu” mask which has been imposed upon many communities by medical theorists has finally been generally condemned as unsanitary and dangerous to the wearer, the moist muslin serving to catch and retain the germs that may be in the air and thus infect the wearer.”
And again, the debate raged over 100 years ago and was discovered as unsanitary and unhealthy which is the period we are experiencing right now in time. Our science may be more evolved, but the question is far from answered definitively.
Other items of interest include businesses being closed and “stagnation” occurring as a result.
You know what they say about history. “If we disregard history, we are doomed to repeat it.” We seem to be in a cycle. How will the future judge our decisions and actions? And what will the cost be?