Trustee's Message
Quarantine in Dayton A
t the time of submitting this article to print (late January 2020), the spread of the Wuhan coronavirus was continuing unabated. Hopefully, by publication, the crisis has ceased and Dayton remains unaffected. But Dayton is not without experience in epidemics. Between October and December 1918, the Spanish Flu gripped the Dayton area. When an outbreak of the flu occurred in nearby Camp Sherman (near Chillicothe), nurses from Dayton and Wright Field responded to help. Camp Sherman suffered an astonishing 1,777 deaths due to influenza that year; eyewitnesses reported that the bodies of young soldiers were grimly “stacked like cordwood” outside the morgue. The disease spread throughout Ohio. With the pandemic spreading, the Dayton Daily News ran the following advice and commanded that it “should be studied by every person in Dayton”: • Protect yourself from infection, keep well, and do not get hysterical over the epidemic. • Avoid being sprayed by the nose and throat secretions of others. • Beware of those who are coughing and wheezing. • Avoid crowded streetcars—walk to the office if possible. • Keep out of crowds—avoid theaters, moving picture shows, and other places of public assembly. • Do not travel by railroad unless absolutely necessary. • Do not drink from glasses or cups which have been used by others, unless you are sure they have been thoroughly cleansed. • You can do much to lessen the danger to yourself by keeping in good physical condition. • Avoid close, stuffy, and poorly ventilated rooms. • Stay at home and do not go to work if you are sick. • Eat simple, nourishing food and drink plenty of water; avoid constipation. • Secure at least seven hours sleep. Avoid physical fatigue. • Keep the feet dry. Despite these admonishments, Daytonians began falling ill in great numbers. While most influenza outbreaks disproportionately kill the very young and the very old, the Spanish Flu was unique in that it seemed to disproportionately kill healthy adults. Healthy person’s immune systems would “over-react” and victims would suffer complete respiratory failure or would develop pneumonia. In some cities, mass graves were dug by steam shovel and bodies buried without coffins. And it struck fast; in Philadelphia, for example, 4,597 people died in one week in mid-October 1918, but by midNovember, influenza had almost disappeared from the city. 4
Dayton Bar Briefs March 2020
By Adam R.Webber Elliott, Faulkner & Webber DBA Member-at-Large
Dayton was lucky in that it had a full-time Public Health Commissioner (which was rare for that era). Dr. A. O. Peters stressed that Daytonians should remain calm and work together to combat the flu. On October 8, 1918, he ordered Dayton’s schools, theaters, libraries, and churches closed. The next day, he closed all saloons, poolhalls, and soda fountains. The whole of Wright Field was quarantined (which was remarkable considering it was wartime). Local doctors quarantined homes of local families where sickness was confirmed. Perhaps owing to clean living, prayer, or good luck, the students of St. Mary’s college (the soon-to-be-renamed University of Dayton) largely avoided illness. The president of the college requested that parents and friends of the students refrain from visiting, and students were not permitted to leave campus. Miami Valley Hospital and St. Elizabeth’s Hospital, however, were inundated with patients. Many thousands of others lay ill at home. Whole families were unable to care for themselves. But Daytonians volunteered by the dozens to work as nurses and home-visit aides— even as many nurses fell ill themselves. Nurses also trained healthy household members on how to care for the ill. Nursing services were critical because—since there was no cure or treatment for the influenza—patients could only be kept comfortable. The local Red Cross nurse registrar proclaimed that volunteers need not be either a graduate or even a practical nurse in order to be of assistance, arguing that “a woman with her normal ‘horse sense’ ought to be able to do many things for the sick.” It was stressed that nurse volunteers could be male or female, married or single, and no distinction would be drawn as to race or color. To help check the spread of the influenza epidemic, Judge William A. Budroe—then Chief Judge of the Dayton Municipal Court—ordered that that the courts of the city would be closed. It was recognized that the court and jails were a dangerous breeding ground for influenza. He ordered the courtrooms “thoroughly disinfected.” Judge Budroe made arrangements to dispose of important cases individually, and many arrestees charged with minor offenses were released from the station house on bail or the payment of a fine. continued on page 5
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