Latest in a series of posts on the Spanish Flu
For perspective on our current coroniavirus situation, we are following the entrance of the 1918 Spanish Influenza, that paragon of pandemics, into the minds and bodies of Lehigh Valley residents who got their news through the Morning Call (the files of the Bethlehem Globe are closed to us at the moment).
September 28.
15 days after “arrival.”
When the Flu starts to hit the fan, the medical experts weigh in.
One can imagine this list cut out of the Morning Call and taped to the “ice box.”
Except for the advice to maintain what we now familiarly call “social distance” as a precaution, it’s remarkable how simplistic and commonplace the Surgeon General’s advice is: cover your mouth when you cough, keep clean, watch the temperature, get fresh air, chew your food, wash your hands, pee a lot, use clean utensils, wear comfortable clothes.
The “declaration” that the Flu is not new and that sunshine is the best medicine ironically masks what we now too are experiencing as a crucial problem: shortage of medical staff to treat the multitude of cases — a medical system going in to overload.
Cover your mouth with the inside of your elbow, not your hand.