IN ITS editorial of November 7, 1918 The Gleaner tried its utmost to put the best face on things. It opened by suggesting that "Jamaicans have not been panic-struck by the influenza epidemic; the people have refused to be frightened over much." Whether this was an accurate assessment of the situation or an optimistic spin is open to debate. The newspaper then proceeded to try to shore up the spirit of the people by asserting that "there have been very little malingering indeed, very few persons have taken advantage of the prevailing sickness to escape the performance of their daily duties...As soon as they can the victims return to work."
It warned, however, that it made no sense for people to try to return to work before the disease had run its course as they could spread the infection or suffer a relapse.
It noted that pneumonia had been the immediate cause of death in many cases and that this condition could be precipitated by persons trying to return to work before they were fully recovered.
It identified the parishes of Portland, St. Thomas and St. James as the hardest hit but did not make the possible connection between this fact and the reality that these parishes might have been infected through their banana-shipping activities.
The newspaper leader went on to admit that it had been premature in asserting earlier in the week that the worst had been over, as it was now clear that the number of those infected continued to rise.
Hot-bedsof infection
While school children in the Corporate Area had not yet been infected to any great degree it wondered whether it was wise to keep them open. It wondered aloud whether the authorities were waiting until the schools became "hot-beds of infection", before ordering that they should be closed. The authorities were evidently waiting for that.
"Nothing much was done to grapple with the scourge until it had got a grip on the parishes of Portland and St. James and now in continuation of this policy it was waiting before ordering that the schools shall be closed. To attempt to cure is better than to prevent, is evidently the opinion of the responsible school authorities. We shall have to pay in lives for this admirable view," said The Gleaner sarcastically.
Then the newspaper launched into its own diagnosis: "It is an epidemic that is clearly due to the conditions created by War. Ill-nourished persons succumb easily." It lauded the management of Moorlands and Hillside estates in Vere for taking steps to improve the nutrition of their workers and observed that though this would involve substantial cost it would save human lives and alleviate suffering.
But, said The Gleaner, in spite of these and similar efforts by other employers the disease had stopped work in some part of the island. It warned that preventive measures should be identified and implemented as there was almost certain to be another visitation in the year 1919. The effects of the war would certainly carry over to the following year and although fatalities in Jamaica had not equalled the 500 per day being recorded in certain African countries the same might not hold true later.
New diseases
"The end of the war will not mean the end of our troubles. The return of the troops to every country will in all probability bring about the dissemination of new diseases, or of old diseases in an aggravated form, unless the utmost vigilance is maintained. This is what we want our Government, our local authorities, our people to remember now. This year's Spanish Influenza is really of the nature of a warning. Neglect the warning and we may have to pay in lives!"
Finally, it called for the immediate replenishment of the stocks of medicines that had been depleted by the epidemic. And if private agencies were not equal to the task, The Gleaner recommended that the Government intervenes directly, if necessary on a Government to Government basis.
But even as The Gleaner tried to be upbeat about the situation it was carrying an account elsewhere in its pages: "Ravages of the Influenza Scourge In Jamaica."
C. Roy Reynolds is a freelance journalist
(Taken from Friday's Gleaner)
