Week 35: Chandler and the 1918 Flu Pandemic
Pandemics have swept the globe every so often throughout human history. The Black Death, smallpox, cholera, typhus, and more recently ebola, have produced some of the most infamous global pandemics. One of the most devastating global pandemics to reach the United States was the 1918 Spanish Influenza.
Though the source of the outbreak is unknown to this day, what is certain is that troop movements during World War I helped to spread the virus around the world. The name Spanish Influenza is misleading. News reports were censored in warring countries, but neutral Spain had no such censorship. While all the nations of Europe suffered from the outbreak, media reports from Spain seemed to show a disproportionately high number of cases from that country.
The flu outbreak in the United States originated at Camp Funston in Kansas. Infected soldiers returning from Europe mingled with fresh troops and civilian camp staff, spreading the virus far and wide as military units moved around the country and soldiers returned home. Millions of people were sickened, and death rates soared. The mortality rate of Spanish Influenza was 2.5%, making it 250 times more deadly than the average flu virus. In fact, the Spanish Influenza was so devastating that it reduced the American life expectancy by ten years.
The flu hit Chandler as hard as any community in the country. The first report of the flu in the local Chandler Arizonan newspaper was on October 11, 1918, when it was noted that the flu was in the Valley. Within a week, the paper reported that 75 people in Chandler were sick, and by October 25, a mere two weeks after the flu’s appearance in the Valley, three people in Chandler had died from it.
Emergency hospitals were set up in the Chandler school house and the pool hall in Goodyear south of town. A November 15, 1918, article in the Arizonan reported that while the situation in Chandler was improving, there were still 30 ill patients in the school house and more than 100 patients in the pool hall. It went on to note that “Prompt sanitary measures in moving serious cases to the hospitals, has been responsible for reducing the death rate materially…” An article in the same column noted the death of Maricopa County Supervisor and Chandler resident James Miller, who “died suddenly Saturday of Influenza and pneumonia.”
Despite the Arizonan’s optimism, the flu pandemic did not abate as hoped. One week later, the paper reported that the workers on the Andersen Ranch west of town – though in truth located along today’s Dobson Road between Chandler Boulevard and Ray Road – had been particularly hard hit. The paper reported 50 new cases of influenza there in five days, with six deaths in that time. The newspaper related the sad story of the Vasurto family: “A pathetic incident comes from the Anderson (sic) Ranch. In the large family of Rafeal Vasurto, 7 children died, all within a few days. The mother and father both escaped.”
It is unknown how many Chandler residents perished in the Spanish Influenza pandemic. By February, 1919, reports of new cases of influenza in Chandler slowed down enough for the schools to reopen. By that summer, the global pandemic was nearly over, as those infected had either died or developed immunity. All told, the Spanish Influenza killed over 50 million people worldwide, making it the deadliest pandemic ever.