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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWill We EVER LEARN? 1918 Philadelphia Threw a WWI Parade That Gave 1000s of Onlookers the Flu
https://thumbs-prod.si-cdn.com/zWr3ZVOpHltHZ5vYUCHtT0ONkHc=/800x600/filters:no_upscale()/The city sought to sell bonds to pay for the war effort, while bringing its citizens together during the infamous pandemic
In the summer of 1918, as the Great War raged and American doughboys fell on Europes killing fields, the City of Brotherly Love organized a grand spectacle. To bolster morale and support the war effort, a procession for the ages brought together marching bands, Boy Scouts, womens auxiliaries, and uniformed troops to promote Liberty Loans government bonds issued to pay for the war. The day would be capped off with a concert led by the March King himself John Philip Sousa.
When the Fourth Liberty Loan Drive parade stepped off on September 28, some 200,000 people jammed Broad Street, cheering wildly as the line of marchers stretched for two miles. Floats showcased the latest addition to Americas arsenal floating biplanes built in Philadelphias Navy Yard. Brassy tunes filled the air along a route where spectators were crushed together like sardines in a can. Each time the music stopped, bond salesmen singled out war widows in the crowd, a move designed to evoke sympathy and ensure that Philadelphia met its Liberty Loan quota.
For Philadelphia, the fallout was swift and deadly. Two days after the parade, the citys public health director Wilmer Krusen, issued a grim pronouncement: The epidemic is now present in the civilian population and is assuming the type found in naval stations and cantonments [army camps].
Within 72 hours of the parade, every bed in Philadelphias 31 hospitals was filled. In the week ending October 5, some 2,600 people in Philadelphia had died from the flu or its complications. A week later, that number rose to more than 4,500. With many of the citys health professionals pressed into military service, Philadelphia was unprepared for this deluge of death.
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crickets
(25,983 posts)The results will be the same. People are going to die.
elleng
(131,107 posts)handmade34
(22,757 posts)refer to it as the 1917 Flu? seriously, I don't know
orleans
(34,073 posts)was remembering a fucking MOVIE called 1917, and then all his cult members have to quote their god--including someone (i forget who) on one of the sunday morning news shows last week
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1917_(2019_film)
Blue Owl
(50,498 posts)Don Corona's is dialing back the stupid over 100 years...
BigmanPigman
(51,627 posts)hit all those people within 3 days. One week after that parade 2,500 were dead from it. Covid is not that deadly and people are asymptomatic longer, therefore spreading it to more people. The 1918 flu came in fast and hit hard...BAM! Then it left almost as quickly after everyone that could get infected did.
https://www.phillyvoice.com/100-years-ago-spanish-flu-philadelphia-killed-thousands-influenza-epidemic-libery-loan-parade/
Baclava
(12,047 posts)Watch the PBS special, American Experience, 1918 influenza
BigmanPigman
(51,627 posts)The article about Phila is long but good. I was surprised to hear from my mom, who did the family's genealogy, that non of our relatives died since my mom's and my dad's families were all over Phila at the time.
Pregnant women really were nailed when it hit, probably a cytokine "storm" is what did it.
Baclava
(12,047 posts)Every kind of snake oil cure was hawked, masks didn't work, nothing they tried could stop it.
Finally burned through every population worldwide then disappeared. They said it started in army camp in Kansas, they took it with them to Europe in WW I, then brought it back much more deadly and it spread like wildfire, young men getting sick and dropping and dying in 24 hrs
BigmanPigman
(51,627 posts)No more public spitting and spittoons. Yuk!