Influenza DBQ

At the end of WW1, influenza killed about 50 million people and even got 20-40% of the
world population sick. The flu spread rapidly, whether it was through ship or through close
contact of soldiers, but the responses to the flu varied between different people. Despite
efforts made to stop the spread of influenza in the early 20th century, ignorance on how to treat
influenza and various religious beliefs allowed influenza to spread and become an
overwhelming situation for the world to handle.
There were many efforts made by doctors and other medical professionals to help stop
the spread of the flu. An example of this is an excerpt from a letter by a medical doctor who
was writing to a friend from Camp Devens, a US army base in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1918
(Doc 1). The doctor said that the camp had about 50,000 men but that after the flu reached the
camp, there has been about 100 deaths per day and a drastic increase of doctors from 25 to
over 250. In addition to the increased medical help at Camp Devens, there have been many
special trains to help carry away the dead, reflecting how the spread of influenza has required
extra doctors and medical professionals to help care for the sick. In addition, Lutiant van Wert,
a Native American female volunteer office worker, wrote a letter to her friend at an Indian
school in Kansas in 1918 (Doc 2) saying that she was at a camp for ten days, helping and caring
for the sick. She had to do an overwhelming number of tasks such as to give patients
medications, take temperatures, fix ice packs, feed the patients at eating time, and other
requests that van Wert could not remember, further stating how caring for people with
Influenza required a lot of people and support. Two women recalling events from their
childhood from 1918-1919 in New Zealand in 1967 (Doc 7) said that their mother would come
home and boil vegetable and meat soups which would be brought to people that were sick with
influenza. The second speaker said that her sister would have a fire set up and before meeting
her family, the speaker would have to sit over the fire and inhale some of the fumes to stay
healthy. An example of precautions taken by various colonies can be seen in the story told by
an American resident of British Samoa from The Evening Post in 1919 (Doc 10). The resident
said that influenza was kept out of American Samoa because their governor put everybody in a
five day isolation or lockdown, showing the efforts made to stay healthy and protected from
influenza.
Ignorance of the possible treatments for influenza was prominent in the early 20 th
century. The “Report on the Epidemic of Influenza in Sierra Leone” from the British colonial
government of Sierra Leone in 1918 (Doc 3) mentioned that people sick with the flu were
turned out onto the streets and were lacking attention and treatment from other healthy
residents. This document shows how the flu continued to spread and claim the lives of many
because there were no doctors or others to help take care of the sick, leaving possibilities of the
sick dying and/or spreading it to other people. Additionally, the Editorial, a Brazilian newspaper
from Rio de Janeiro in 1918 (Doc 6) stated that they were shocked on how the public health
agency ignored influenza and its impact it made around the world. There were many statistics
regarding the spread of the epidemic, but the health agency ignored the data and thus did not
enforce rules like sanitary checks for foreign items or people.
People followed their religious beliefs which exposed many people to the flu. This can
be seen in the Sanitary Commissioner’s report on influenza from British India in 1918 (Doc 4).
The report states that people refused to use the recommended medical treatment because of a
superstitious belief that the epidemic was a visitation of the Hindu goddess Amman, and that
no drug treatment should be used. This reflects a major problem that people are willing to
continue being sick just because they don’t want to use the suggested drug treatment due to
their religious superstitions. The Chinese Science Monitor from Boston, Massachusetts in 1918
(Doc 5) mentions that churches are shut for the sake of people’s health, but that people believe
that if God sent the flu, they won’t be able to protect themselves from it if the churches would
close, further showing that people want to follow their religious beliefs though it may increase
the chance of people contracting the flu. C.T. Stoneham, a British soldier, talked about a British
military base in Africa All Over in 1934 (Doc 8). Stoneham said that rumors were spread that
this was the end and that a God was using the flu to wipe out all of humanity.
The overwhelming situation with influenza the world had to deal with is very similar to
Covid-19 today. Like the flu, Covid has gotten millions of people sick around the world and has
claimed the lives of many. Covid also requires a lot of doctors, nurses, and other medical
professionals. Similarly, some countries have taken precautions for Covid-19 like American
Samoa did with the flu while others either believed Covid (and the flu) was fake or refused to
use the pandemic’s treatments. So despite efforts made to stop the spread of influenza in the
early 20th century, ignorance on how to treat influenza and various religious beliefs allowed
influenza to spread and become an overwhelming situation for the world to handle.