Archives show links to 1918 flu pandemic
More than 100 years ago, a school teacher in a small North Island community wrote to the government to tell them how influenza had hit their village.
In five days, 132 people were sick, and three people had died. While the current outbreak of coronavirus was sudden and unprecedented, New Zealand has been here before.
Archives New Zealand chief archivist Richard Foy says the influenza outbreak in 1918 has many parallels to the outbreak of Covid-19 – and the archives hold the proof. ‘‘Exponential growth is not unprecedented.’’
The letter from the Maraenui teacher, written in faded cursive, details the onset of influenza in their small community.
It reads: ‘‘Up to Friday, November 8th, 1918, we had no sign of the epidemic here, although it was rather bad in Opotiki.
‘‘On that day, two men were sent from Maraenui to Opotiki for whiskey and cakes for a dance to be held at Maraenui on that evening. On Sunday, Nov 10th several persons who had been over to the dance were down.’’ The growth was exponential.
The letter said by Monday there were 104 people sick, and by Wednesday, there were 132 – ‘‘the whole of Maraenui were down’’. Three people in the small community died.
A page of advice published by the Coromandel Hospital Board recommended many of the same things we’re hearing today. ‘‘[Number] 2. Go to bed in a room not occupied by a person who is well and stay there until the temperature returns to normal. [Number] 7. Only one member of the family of the house should visit the patient.’’
Number 12 was a familiar one: Stay home, save lives. The necessity of personal protective equipment (PPE) might not have been fully developed but people were aware of the dangers of bodily fluids.
One poster warned readers not to lick their fingers before turning a page.
Number 11 from Coromandel read: ‘‘If you sneeze or cough, try to put a handkerchief before your nose or mouth. Remember the minute droplets passing from you in sneezing or coughing carry the germs of infection to others.’’
There was also some misguided medical advice, like numbers 9 and 10 on the list, which were to take quinine, a malaria cure, to brush one’s teeth with borax, and breathe in the hot fumes of a borax and baking soda solution ‘‘as hot as can be borne’’ a day.
By-laws were changed to the same effect as the banning of large gatherings today.
Advice from the Coromandel said: ‘‘5. Don’t depress yourself by looking at the bad side.’’
Foy echoed that sentiment. Information from today would be ‘‘invaluable’’ many years on, when coronavirus is a distant memory. ‘‘This too shall pass.’’