Page 5 - July on-line VV_Neat

In the main, self-isolation and social distancing were absent among the poorer classes - those who lived in abject conditions
in crowded tenements, working long hours and with a poor diet.

Where it happened at all, imposing quarantine or closing public meeting places often happened too late. The Government,
medics and the press played down the severity of the disease to avoid spreading anxiety. There was no talk of a lockdown
and the disease wasn’t mentioned in Parliament until late October. It wasn’t made ‘notifiable’ to the authorities until the
third wave struck in 1919.

Businesses and factories remained open. Public parades and pageants were allowed to go ahead.
Thousands took to the street for the Armistice celebrations on November 11.
Most churches remained open throughout on the grounds that during a crisis people should turn to religion, not be
excluded from it.

Schools in general also remained open. However, Kent schoolgirl, Margaret Pitt, recalled: “In 1918, the school was warned
[of] the coming epidemic, so they tried to get us all home early before the Easter holidays. Telegrams were sent to our par-
ents. Our trunks were packed and sent off. Then we all came down to the main hall ready for our journey, in coats, hats and
gloves, and our hand luggage. The nurse and her assistant were there with thermometers to see if we were developing the
virus. I think about half of us were sent back to bed, some were very upset as they were anxious to go home. I was one of
those who had to go to bed. We were given plenty of drink – milk.”
Meanwhile, Cheltenham Boys’ School took the reverse step of locking staff and
pupils inside the building.

The British Medical Journal accepted that overcrowding on transport and in the
workplace was necessary to help the war

The Times suggested that the illness was probably a result of “the general weakness
of nerve-power known as war-weariness”.
Elsewhere, however, some action to protect populations was taken. In France and
America, schools, churches and cinemas were closed. Train passengers in Spain were
“generously sprayed with foul-smelling disinfectant” and people arriving in Australia
had to stay in isolation for a while.

America also banned public gatherings, health departments distributed masks and
funerals were restricted to 15 minutes.

DIY ‘cures’
American President Donald Trump’s suggestion that injections of bleach might kill the coronavirus seems outrageous to many
modern ears.
However, in 1918, without an NHS, people tried all sorts of ‘cures’ and dosed themselves with all kinds of medicines. One
farmer swore he cured himself with paraffin oil.