Accent: How Sudbury coped with the Spanish flu 100 years ago – The Sudbury Star

“’FLU’ EPIDEMIC BRINGS CLOSURE ALL ASSEMBLIES – Civic Authorities in Endeavor To Cope With Disease,” was the front-page headline for the Sudbury Star on Oct. 16, 1918.

The 1918 Flu Pandemic (1918-1920), also known as the “Spanish Flu” or “La Grippe,” spread to Canada that September and Sudbury had its first case by early October. While staying at home and practising social distancing, take some time to learn about Sudbury’s experience with a pandemic a little over 101 years ago.

The 1918 influenza pandemic was caused by an H1N1 virus. The exact place of origin is unknown but the virus started during the last months of the First World War and quickly spread around the world.

Spain was not the first country to experience the virus, but, as a neutral country during the war, officials there reported openly about the disease, which may have led to the virus being called the “Spanish Flu.”

Globally, the virus infected about one-third of the population with an estimated 50 million deaths.

By Oct. 9, 1918, there were at least 12 cases of the disease in Sudbury with eight of them classified as “more severe.” All cases were traced to outside sources, so the virus was not yet community spread.

The Sudbury Board of Health recommended the public to isolate anyone infected, maintain health with exercise in the fresh air, proper nutrition and sleep, washing hands prior to eating, avoiding crowds and not kissing anyone.

It was also recommended that “the hands should be kept away from the mouth and nose at all times … The nose and mouth should always be covered with a handkerchief in the act of coughing or sneezing.”

Anyone caring for someone infected was not to touch their face or mouth with their hands while handling a patient or infected items. In addition to many other stipulations, caregivers were to wash their hands with soap, water and a nail brush, and hold their hands for five minutes in antiseptic solution before interacting with healthy people.

Just three days after the virus was first reported in Sudbury, St. Joseph’s Hospital was full, except for a few beds in the public ward.  Eventually, Sudbury High School was transformed into a temporary emergency hospital to be used if needed.

The province began to consider allowing the purchase of small quantities of alcohol for medicinal purposes without a doctor’s note. A local milk shortage, which started just before the virus arrived in town, was exacerbated, in part, by the flu.

The board of health asked Sudburians to stay home if infected and to leave the hospital for those without homes in town.

Within four more days, the number of infected increased to 500 to 800, and five of those with the virus had died due to pneumonia.

Local doctors found that while about 85 per cent of cases were very mild, 15 per cent were severe.

On Oct. 16, 1918, all public places in town were closed, including schools, churches, theatres, the public library, lodges, the market place, etc. and the CNR station platforms were limited to only those with necessary business.

The Sudbury-Copper Cliff Electric Railway was required to clean its cars and fumigate them daily and passenger capacity was cut in half.  Restaurants remained open, but with a limit of 25 patrons. The post office also remained open, but loitering or congregating in the post office, street corners, office buildings, etc. was forbidden as was spitting in public places.

Fortunately, isolation had the desired effect. While there were many new cases, within a few days the number of new daily cases decreased.  By October 23, 1918, there were more 1,000 cases in town and 41 deaths from the virus since the beginning of the month.

An experimental inoculation was sent to Sudbury doctors from Toronto to administer 5,000 doses.

By early November, there were around 1,500 to 1,800 cases in Sudbury.  There were also about 1,100 to 1,200 cases “among the mining towns of the International Nickel Co.”  Copper Cliff had suffered six deaths from the virus by this time and Burwash Industrial Farm had 16 deaths by mid-November, but many other towns were spared. Garson stopped all incoming and outgoing traffic and as of Nov. 2, 1918, had no cases of the disease.

On November 10, 1918, the places of worship were re-opened in Sudbury and the following day most public places. The public library and schools opened a week later.

There were still new cases but they were much milder and the numbers fell by November 20, 1918, to less 10 new cases a day.  By early December, Sudbury had experienced about 2,000 cases with around 65 local deaths from the disease in addition to an unknown number of deaths of people brought to town for treatment.

These numbers are approximate as it was not required in 1918 to report cases of the disease and by late November, statistics were no longer included locally in media reports.

From the beginning of October to the end of December 1918, death records indicated around 190 deaths in Sudbury due to “Influenza,” “La Grippe” or “Spanish Influenza.”

(There were cases of influenza or la grippe in town at this time that were not the Spanish Influenza, so some of these deaths may have been from the seasonal flu. There were about 26 death records in Sudbury that listed specifically “Spanish Influenza” as a cause of death from October to December 1918 but media reports were much higher so it is  possible physicians sometimes shortened it to “influenza.”  During the same time period, “pneumonia” was also recorded locally as a cause of death in a number of cases.)

Death records continued to list Spanish Influenza as a cause of death in Sudbury until the end of February with an additional eight deaths.  January to March 1919 also included 31 deaths due to “Influenza” in town and one death due to “Influenza” in June in Sudbury.

There was also one individual in 1920 listed as died of the “Spanish Influenza” in Sudbury and at least 67 Sudburians who died of “Influenza” or “La Grippe.”

There was also one additional death of a person in Sudbury with the official cause listed as “Spanish Influenza” in 1921 and at least three people who died of “Influenza” in the town the same year.

To learn more about the 1918 influenza pandemic, visit the City of Greater Sudbury Archives website at www.greatersudbury.ca/archives.  Click on “Search our Holdings” and follow the links to Archeion.

To listen to firsthand accounts of the 1918 flu from the radio program Memories and Music, type Jack Sauerbrei or Jim Vanderbeck in the search bar and click on the result.

(Or visit https://www.archeion.ca/jack-sauerbrei or https://www.archeion.ca/jim-vanderbeck. Jack Sauerbrei briefly shares his memories of the 1918 pandemic and Jim Vanderbeck mentions it in passing in regards to the deaths of two of his siblings.)

To learn about a First World War Soldier who died of the 1918 influenza, type Royal Canadian Legion Dr. Fred Starr Branch 76 in the search bar and click on the first result.  Then click on Book of Remembrance (on the left-hand side) and then Reference Guide for the Book of Remembrance.  Click on the Reference Guide and do a keyword search for Bonhomme, Edward.  (Or visit https://www.archeion.ca/uploads/r/city-of-greater-sudbury-archives/0/e/a/0ead56772442d906f52f8add99986c8796da800859c8ad337733c0953ed817d4/Book_of_Remembrance_Reference_Guide_p1-15.pdf and search for Bonhomme, Edward.)

Shanna Fraser is the city archivist for the City of Greater Sudbury.