Forum: How Did Families Cope in 1918 Part 2

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AnnieB ¨C at 23:42 I have just started reaading the book ¡°Black November - the flu of 1918¡å which is about the flu in New Zealand. It contains a collection of peoples ¡®memories¡¯ of the time. The book was first published in 1985 but was updated last year and re-published.

When I finish it (which could take some time as it is quite a tome) I will add any helpful hints for how people coped.

In the introductory section I read last night, it appeared that one ¡®advantage¡¯ of the flu hitting at war time was that there were special community groups in place to support people on their own etc and these groups just changed the focus of their activity to support those families with flu. Mostly this meant lighting the coal ranges in the kitchens each morning and ensuring there was hot soup available at each infected house.

What was alarming for epidemiologists was the speed with which the virus made its way throughout the entire country - 2 weeks was all it took. The speed of spread has yet to be explained. This was far faster than anything since ¡­

Ange D ¨C at 23:46

AnnieB, would you mind sharing more of the book as you go along? :-) thanks

Reading Update … I read some more of the book “Black November” last night but it is all the history prior to the 1918 flu so far. Will get back to you when I get to the ‘exciting’ bits.

Cheers team

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