Fall River, Massachusetts, USA
1918 - Fall River and the Influenza Epidemic of 1918-1919

"In a sense, Fall River was caught between the anvil and the stone in the fall of 1918. Boston – epicenter of the influenza epidemic – was just 50 miles away, while Newport, Rhode Island and its naval stations was even closer, a scant 22 miles. Personnel from military installations near both cities regularly paid visits to Fall River, and it was through such visits that influenza was brought to the city: of the first five cases reported to the Fall River Board of Health on September 16, two were soldiers on leave from Camp Devens and two were from the Boston Navy Yard...

...In a little over a week there were 602 reported cases of influenza in Fall River and 17 deaths due to the disease...

...Influenza clung tenaciously to Fall River throughout the rest of the winter, although fortunately it caused only a handful of additional deaths. The overall toll of the epidemic on the city was staggering, however. Between September 16 and the end of 1918, 11,707 cases of influenza were reported to the Fall River Board of Health. Of these cases, 719 died. For the period when the disease was considered epidemic – September 16 to October 31 – Fall River experienced 10,624 cases and 629 deaths... In addition to the lives lost, the epidemic cost Fall River $19,075, not including the cost of disinfecting and renovating the various buildings loaned to the city for use as emergency hospitals or the $1,100 paid by the Red Cross..."

www.influenzaarchive.org

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