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How tech helped in the fight against the 1918 flu

Radios, telephones and dishwashers influenced our response to the nation's last great epidemic.

Knute Berger

/ October 9, 2020

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<article>
  <header>
    <hgroup>
      <h1>How tech helped in the fight against the 1918 flu</h1>
              <h2><p>Radios, telephones and dishwashers influenced our response to the nation's last great epidemic.</p></h2>
          </hgroup>
    <p>By <a href="https://uat1.crosscut.com/author/knute-berger?r=repub" hreflang="en">Knute Berger</a> / <a href="https://uat1.crosscut.com/?r=repub">Crosscut.com</a></p>
    <p>
      <time datetime="2020-10-09T05:00:00-07:00">October 9, 2020</time>
    </p>
      </header>
      <div>
      <p>The Spanish influenza pandemic of 1918-1920 disrupted life around the world. And while it generated fear as death rates soared, new technologies and applications played a role in helping people cope with the spread of the disease, including here on the West Coast and the Pacific Rim.</p>
    </div>
    <div><p>Wireless ship-to-ship and ship-to-shore communications were already established, but they expanded rapidly during World War I. The Naval training station at the University of Washington trained cadets in many aspects of service — including a large class in radio communications. During wartime, the Navy was expanding the use of radio throughout its fleet.</p>

<p>The UW training station, however, was one of the first locations in Seattle to see cases of Spanish influenza, which was spreading rapidly in military and naval camps, including Camp Lewis and the Bremerton Shipyard. A number of UW-based cadets died. Still, radio communications played an important role during the pandemic, spreading word of health conditions in remote locations, including among Indigenous communities.</p>

<p>The progress of the flu in Alaska was tracked by the Seattle press. Trade connections were still strong after the gold rush — Seattle considered itself the “gateway” to the far north. In October 1918, as the flu’s presence in the cities up and down the West Coast began shutting down as a result of the flu, the governor of Alaska cabled Seattle steamship companies and informed them that passengers suffering flu symptoms would not be allowed to land in the territory. He urged passengers to be examined for flu before departure.</p><p>Unfortunately, it was not yet understood that this influenza could be spread by people who were asymptomatic. In November 1918, the disease appeared in the vicinity of Nome after a steamship from Seattle brought passengers to the small, northern Alaskan city. It swept through Nome and nearby native communities. The passengers, all screened multiple times by doctors for symptoms, had isolated upon arrival. Still, the flu had slipped through.</p>

<p>Under the headline, “Flu Ravages Alaska,” a Seattle Times article in May 1920 began, “Reports of the ravages of an influenza epidemic in towns and native settlements of interior Alaska continue to reach Seattle by mail and wireless telegraph.” The report noted outbreaks in the vicinity of Fairbanks, and that the region’s educational authorities had requested that physicians in Canada’s Yukon “use every precaution to prevent the disease from spreading farther north.” An outbreak on the Bering Sea coast was attributed to the arrival of cannery vessels — and “likely moved into the interior.” Wireless communication helped spread the warning in and beyond Alaska.</p>

<p>A dramatic example of radio communication spurring life-saving action occurred in the South Pacific and involved <a href="https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/how-american-samoa-kept-pandemic-bay">the tale of two Samoas</a>. <a href="https://nzhistory.govt.nz/culture/1918-influenza-pandemic/samoa">New Zealand occupied Western Samoa</a> (now known as Samoa), having taken it from the Germans in 1914. Four years later, a cargo and passenger ship, the SS Talune, docked and landed passengers suffering from Spanish flu. In short order, 90% of the local population was infected and more than 20% — 8,000 to 9,000 — died, a catastrophic mortality rate. The ship also caused serious outbreaks with devastating effects on other islands, including Fiji and Tonga.</p>

<p>Hearing about the arrival of the influenza in Western Samoa via shortwave radio, the governor of nearby American Samoa, U.S. Navy Cmdr. John Martin Poyer, locked the island down with a strict quarantine. No ships were allowed in. Restrictions were enforced with the strong support of native chiefs. As a result, American Samoa suffered <em>no deaths</em> from Spanish influenza. The decision to cut off all access was made after news via radio of its neighbor’s crisis. In contrast to today’s pandemic response, New Zealand’s failure to protect Western Samoa in 1918 was widely criticized, while the U.S. response on its island territory was praised for averting disaster. Poyer received the Navy Cross for his actions.</p>

<p>A number of Northwest vessels plying the South Seas were caught up in flu-related quarantines as the disease hit remote islands. Foreign crews, passengers and locals loading and unloading cargo all spread influenza. The Seattle Times reported in January 1919 that many ships from Seattle were being held in South Seas ports, like Fiji, where “deaths are occurring so rapidly … that [bodies] are being burned in open bonfires.” Many of these vessels were part of the Puget Sound codfish fleet that worked off Alaska but traded copra (dried coconut) in the off-season. Among these was the Wawona, a historic and venerable Northwest sailing vessel, parts of which are now a sculpture at the Seattle Museum of History and Industry. The Times worried about the pandemic’s disruption of the cod fishing season, a major commercial enterprise.</p>

<p><strong>At the local level, more mundane technological solutions to the flu were discussed</strong>. Newspaper articles touted newfangled electric dishwashers as tools for fighting influenza. The U.S. Surgeon General reported that rates of flu transmission were reduced by as much as two-thirds by machine washing of dishes and utensils over handwashing. For the most part these machines were used by institutions, such as the military or modern hotels.</p>

<p>The home telephone was becoming much more prevalent at the time too, and people were urged to use it for shopping in these pre-Amazon times. For example, Meier &amp; Frank, the Portland department store, took out an ad in the Oregon Daily Journal urging customers to “Stamp Out the Spanish Influenza” and “Use the Telephone!” instead of coming into the store. The retailer touted its telephone capacity: “We have a very efficient telephone switch board … and six of the most capable exchange operators. There are 34 trunk lines to serve you and 297 house phones.”</p><p>Before Zoom, the telephone also opened up new possibilities in education, including distance learning. In Los Angeles, during a second pandemic closure of public schools in December 1918, the school district prepared so that its 87,000 students could study at home. The TLA Evening Express reported that a special curriculum was developed: “A part of the instruction will be over the telephone, and where practicable the teacher will call on the student at his or her home, or the student will call on the teacher.” Some 9,000 teachers would track progress, though it was noted that the students would be on the honor system until in-person classes resumed.</p>

<p>Telephone service was vulnerable to the flu — or at least its human operators were, especially the “girls,” as women were called then, who worked at phone exchanges. A story in Corvallis, Oregon, complained that local service was “bum” because the “Spanish influenza … sent four of [the] best girls to … sneezing….” In Ontario, California, phone operators were inoculated with a preventive flu serum. The Los Angeles Times reported that all who got the serum were healthy, but that all but one “who refused the serum are today suffering with the influenza, eight cases in all.” Such serums were not all reliable, however. Still, only people in important jobs generally received them, so inoculating operators is an indication of how critical the phone system was.</p>

<p>Demand was also an issue. In Spokane, the Home Telegraph and Telephone Company announced, “As a result of war conditions and the present epidemic of influenza,” patrons needed to refrain from using the phone because of an “abnormal increase in local telephone traffic.”</p>

<p>Spokane wasn’t alone. At election time, in November 1918, the Sacramento Bee newspaper pleaded with readers not to call in for election results, so as not to jam phone lines. The local phone company was down 50 to 60 operators and couldn’t handle increased volumes due to the election. “Don’t use the telephone at any time during the influenza epidemic except when absolutely necessary," The Bee reported. "Your use of the phone may delay the call to a doctor from a nurse or relative of a dying person.” Instead, the paper encouraged readers to come down in person to the Bee's office and stand outside to get the returns via old-fashioned tech: “stereopticon, window bulletins and megaphone.”</p>

<p>Despite the drawbacks of vulnerable personnel, enthusiasm for the telephone and its future was great. Wireless telephony was touted as just around the corner. Godfrey Isaacs of the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company said early 1919: “One day in the not too distant future we shall walk about with wireless telephones attached to our bodies and we shall be able … to call up a friend who is flying somewhere.” World War I had advanced wireless communication, and it would soon connect the entire globe, he predicted. Thus, the mobile phone was dreamed of in pandemic times.</p>

<p>A century later, we have them in our pockets. They haven’t prevented another pandemic, but they are helping to keep us informed — and misinformed — while we deal with it.</p></div>
</article>
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HOW TECH HELPED IN THE FIGHT AGAINST THE 1918 FLU

RADIOS, TELEPHONES AND DISHWASHERS INFLUENCED OUR RESPONSE TO THE
NATION'S LAST GREAT EPIDEMIC.

By Knute Berger / Crosscut.com

October 9, 2020

The Spanish influenza pandemic of 1918-1920 disrupted life around the
world. And while it generated fear as death rates soared, new
technologies and applications played a role in helping people cope
with the spread of the disease, including here on the West Coast and
the Pacific Rim.

Wireless ship-to-ship and ship-to-shore communications were already
established, but they expanded rapidly during World War I. The Naval
training station at the University of Washington trained cadets in
many aspects of service — including a large class in radio
communications. During wartime, the Navy was expanding the use of
radio throughout its fleet.

The UW training station, however, was one of the first locations in
Seattle to see cases of Spanish influenza, which was spreading rapidly
in military and naval camps, including Camp Lewis and the Bremerton
Shipyard. A number of UW-based cadets died. Still, radio
communications played an important role during the pandemic, spreading
word of health conditions in remote locations, including among
Indigenous communities.

The progress of the flu in Alaska was tracked by the Seattle press.
Trade connections were still strong after the gold rush — Seattle
considered itself the “gateway” to the far north. In October 1918,
as the flu’s presence in the cities up and down the West Coast began
shutting down as a result of the flu, the governor of Alaska cabled
Seattle steamship companies and informed them that passengers
suffering flu symptoms would not be allowed to land in the territory.
He urged passengers to be examined for flu before departure.

Unfortunately, it was not yet understood that this influenza could be
spread by people who were asymptomatic. In November 1918, the disease
appeared in the vicinity of Nome after a steamship from Seattle
brought passengers to the small, northern Alaskan city. It swept
through Nome and nearby native communities. The passengers, all
screened multiple times by doctors for symptoms, had isolated upon
arrival. Still, the flu had slipped through.

Under the headline, “Flu Ravages Alaska,” a Seattle Times article
in May 1920 began, “Reports of the ravages of an influenza epidemic
in towns and native settlements of interior Alaska continue to reach
Seattle by mail and wireless telegraph.” The report noted outbreaks
in the vicinity of Fairbanks, and that the region’s educational
authorities had requested that physicians in Canada’s Yukon “use
every precaution to prevent the disease from spreading farther
north.” An outbreak on the Bering Sea coast was attributed to the
arrival of cannery vessels — and “likely moved into the
interior.” Wireless communication helped spread the warning in and
beyond Alaska.

A dramatic example of radio communication spurring life-saving action
occurred in the South Pacific and involved the tale of two Samoas. New
Zealand occupied Western Samoa (now known as Samoa), having taken it
from the Germans in 1914. Four years later, a cargo and passenger
ship, the SS Talune, docked and landed passengers suffering from
Spanish flu. In short order, 90% of the local population was infected
and more than 20% — 8,000 to 9,000 — died, a catastrophic
mortality rate. The ship also caused serious outbreaks with
devastating effects on other islands, including Fiji and Tonga.

Hearing about the arrival of the influenza in Western Samoa via
shortwave radio, the governor of nearby American Samoa, U.S. Navy
Cmdr. John Martin Poyer, locked the island down with a strict
quarantine. No ships were allowed in. Restrictions were enforced with
the strong support of native chiefs. As a result, American Samoa
suffered _no deaths_ from Spanish influenza. The decision to cut off
all access was made after news via radio of its neighbor’s crisis.
In contrast to today’s pandemic response, New Zealand’s failure to
protect Western Samoa in 1918 was widely criticized, while the U.S.
response on its island territory was praised for averting disaster.
Poyer received the Navy Cross for his actions.

A number of Northwest vessels plying the South Seas were caught up in
flu-related quarantines as the disease hit remote islands. Foreign
crews, passengers and locals loading and unloading cargo all spread
influenza. The Seattle Times reported in January 1919 that many ships
from Seattle were being held in South Seas ports, like Fiji, where
“deaths are occurring so rapidly … that [bodies] are being burned
in open bonfires.” Many of these vessels were part of the Puget
Sound codfish fleet that worked off Alaska but traded copra (dried
coconut) in the off-season. Among these was the Wawona, a historic and
venerable Northwest sailing vessel, parts of which are now a sculpture
at the Seattle Museum of History and Industry. The Times worried about
the pandemic’s disruption of the cod fishing season, a major
commercial enterprise.

AT THE LOCAL LEVEL, MORE MUNDANE TECHNOLOGICAL SOLUTIONS TO THE FLU
WERE DISCUSSED. Newspaper articles touted newfangled electric
dishwashers as tools for fighting influenza. The U.S. Surgeon General
reported that rates of flu transmission were reduced by as much as
two-thirds by machine washing of dishes and utensils over handwashing.
For the most part these machines were used by institutions, such as
the military or modern hotels.

The home telephone was becoming much more prevalent at the time too,
and people were urged to use it for shopping in these pre-Amazon
times. For example, Meier & Frank, the Portland department store, took
out an ad in the Oregon Daily Journal urging customers to “Stamp Out
the Spanish Influenza” and “Use the Telephone!” instead of
coming into the store. The retailer touted its telephone capacity:
“We have a very efficient telephone switch board … and six of the
most capable exchange operators. There are 34 trunk lines to serve you
and 297 house phones.”

Before Zoom, the telephone also opened up new possibilities in
education, including distance learning. In Los Angeles, during a
second pandemic closure of public schools in December 1918, the school
district prepared so that its 87,000 students could study at home. The
TLA Evening Express reported that a special curriculum was developed:
“A part of the instruction will be over the telephone, and where
practicable the teacher will call on the student at his or her home,
or the student will call on the teacher.” Some 9,000 teachers would
track progress, though it was noted that the students would be on the
honor system until in-person classes resumed.

Telephone service was vulnerable to the flu — or at least its human
operators were, especially the “girls,” as women were called then,
who worked at phone exchanges. A story in Corvallis, Oregon,
complained that local service was “bum” because the “Spanish
influenza … sent four of [the] best girls to … sneezing….” In
Ontario, California, phone operators were inoculated with a preventive
flu serum. The Los Angeles Times reported that all who got the serum
were healthy, but that all but one “who refused the serum are today
suffering with the influenza, eight cases in all.” Such serums were
not all reliable, however. Still, only people in important jobs
generally received them, so inoculating operators is an indication of
how critical the phone system was.

Demand was also an issue. In Spokane, the Home Telegraph and Telephone
Company announced, “As a result of war conditions and the present
epidemic of influenza,” patrons needed to refrain from using the
phone because of an “abnormal increase in local telephone
traffic.”

Spokane wasn’t alone. At election time, in November 1918, the
Sacramento Bee newspaper pleaded with readers not to call in for
election results, so as not to jam phone lines. The local phone
company was down 50 to 60 operators and couldn’t handle increased
volumes due to the election. “Don’t use the telephone at any time
during the influenza epidemic except when absolutely necessary," The
Bee reported. "Your use of the phone may delay the call to a doctor
from a nurse or relative of a dying person.” Instead, the paper
encouraged readers to come down in person to the Bee's office and
stand outside to get the returns via old-fashioned tech:
“stereopticon, window bulletins and megaphone.”

Despite the drawbacks of vulnerable personnel, enthusiasm for the
telephone and its future was great. Wireless telephony was touted as
just around the corner. Godfrey Isaacs of the Marconi Wireless
Telegraph Company said early 1919: “One day in the not too distant
future we shall walk about with wireless telephones attached to our
bodies and we shall be able … to call up a friend who is flying
somewhere.” World War I had advanced wireless communication, and it
would soon connect the entire globe, he predicted. Thus, the mobile
phone was dreamed of in pandemic times.

A century later, we have them in our pockets. They haven’t prevented
another pandemic, but they are helping to keep us informed — and
misinformed — while we deal with it.

-------------------------

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