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Tank: Saskatoon got healthy dose of mixed messages amid Spanish Flu

Saskatoon's medical health officer in 1918 told residents that the pandemic was nothing to worry about.

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Imagine if Saskatoon’s mayor told residents to chill during a global pandemic, or a city health official suggested the virus was fake news.

Both happened during the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic, when Saskatoon’s mayor was also a medical doctor, Dr. Alexander MacGillivray Young.

On Oct. 16, 1918, a barely noticeable, two-paragraph blurb inside the Saskatoon Daily Star detailed that Young had just returned from Regina, which had 150 Spanish Flu cases.

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The article paraphrased Young saying there is “no immediate cause for the public to be alarmed.” Residents were advised to avoid crowds, refrain from sneezing or coughing near others and to only use doctor-prescribed sprays and gargles.

Daily Star readers may have been shocked turning to Page 3 the following day to find that city council had taken drastic action to curb the pandemic’s spread.

Schools, movie theatres, bowling alleys and other places of “public amusement” were ordered to close as a precaution. The decision was made at an afternoon council meeting, following a meeting with the city’s doctors. It still made that day’s paper, which was published in the evening.

The closures took effect at midnight. City council had no power to close churches, but beseeched them to cease services.

Mayor Dr. Young also issued the following warning, an unusual one if the Spanish Flu posed no threat: “People from out-of-town are not to send cases of influenza to the city for treatment. … Visitors will not be admitted to hospital except in extraordinary circumstances.”

Young also told the residents of Saskatoon on Oct. 17 that the city had added 12 new cases to bring the total to 32. Imagine that: informing residents about the number of pandemic cases in their city — quite unlike the provincial government’s usage of large regions to report COVID-19 cases a century later.

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On Saturday, Oct. 19, the main story on Page 3 — the front page was routinely devoted to First World War news — quoted medical health officer Dr. Arthur Wilson suggesting the Spanish Flu was nothing to worry about.

Wilson said that despite cases in the city hitting 100, Saskatoon’s first pandemic death provided no cause for concern because it was an “out-of-town case.” The headline used quote marks around the word flu.

“This epidemic is nothing but the old form of influenza, or grippe,” Wilson said. “The only difference is that it has been given more publicity.” Fake news?

Former Saskatchewan premier Walter Scott was quoted in the same edition suggesting the “so-called ‘Spanish Flu’ epidemic” was overblown.

Page 7 of that Saturday paper featured a banner headline proclaiming “Saskatoon’s first churchless Sunday” and messages from ministers were printed. That same edition included an ad and a coupon for Dr. Chase’s Menthol Bag, a device worn on the chest to protect from the flu by killing germs.

Some of this information was discovered in a wonderful article on the Spanish Flu in Saskatchewan by Maureen Lux called The Bitter Flats, published in 1997 in Saskatoon History magazine.

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By December, schools and businesses had reopened. Dr. Young was replaced as mayor in 1919, but returned in 1920 before getting elected as a Liberal MP for Saskatoon three times. A park in the Stonebridge neighbourhood bears his name.

The Spanish Flu killed 324 people in Saskatoon, which was then a city of fewer than 26,000. Adjusted for population growth, that would be like 3,538 deaths today.

Thus far, two deaths related to COVID-19 have been reported in the Saskatoon region.

Looking back on the Spanish Flu, we can all agree the messaging was far from ideal. You can judge for yourself if it’s any better during the current pandemic.

ptank@postmedia.com

twitter.com/thinktankSK

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The third page of the Saskatoon Daily Star on Oct. 18, 1918 contained a number of stories on the Spanish Flu pandemic. (Saskatoon Daily Star)
The third page of the Saskatoon Daily Star on Oct. 18, 1918 contained a number of stories on the Spanish Flu pandemic. (Saskatoon Daily Star) jpg

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