1918 Spanish Influenza Pandemic

Watkins Glen

Montour Falls

Watkins Glen

The articles above, taken from the Watkins Express and the Montour Falls Free Press in the fall of 1918 and spring of 1919, show that the current corona virus threat is nothing new.  We have traveled this path before.  The Spanish Influenza of 1918-1919 struck during World War I.  It was called the Spanish Influenza, but historians and scientists now believe it originated in army camps here in the United States and then spread overseas by way of military troops ships with very deadly consequences.  The articles reveal that some of the same precautions being taken today to deal with the Covid-19 virus were also done in 1918 and 1919, such as closing schools and re-purposing buildings to use as hospitals.  During the WWI crisis, Americans also moved about wearing masks to limit contracting or spreading the virus, meetings were cancelled, and businesses closed.  Local papers in 1918 and 1919 were filled with articles about people who had contracted the flu, and there were a number of local citizens who died from it.  Here's hoping that by working together we can all help avoid making our present pandemic as harmful as the Spanish Influenza of WWI.