We’ve Been Here Before: the 1918 Pandemic

Fifteen years ago, Rachel Berzon’08 was a sopho更多的 majoring in history and taking Emerging Infectious Diseases with Professor of Biology Marion Field Fass. 的 class proved the perfect place to bring her interests in science and history together, so she dove into researching 贝洛伊特’s experience during the 1918-19 pandemic.

今天, her 2006 biology paper offers fascinating insight into that earlier, but all-too-familiar crisis, and reminds us that human behavior has always played a critical role in fighting infectious diseases.

Berzon’s work also foreshadowed her future career in public health. She recently completed the dual physician assistant and Master of Public Health degree program at George Washington University, and joined the staff of Inova Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church, Va.

As the Covid-19 pandemic emerged, she reflected on her earlier research about 贝洛伊特 in 1918. “的 college implemented a voluntary quarantine from early October to early November 1918, which was successful in preventing deaths because many on campus took it seriously,”她说。.

Like today’s students, who helped establish safe social behaviors and promoted them to the student body, the 1918 students stayed in check through the timeless power of peer pressure and a dedication to the common good.

这招奏效了. Looking at 1918, Berzon wrote that, “In pandemic terms only a handful became infected, and the mortality rate was in the single digits; 十大菠菜台子 emerged from the pandemic unscathed.”

Berzon’s paper gives context to 贝洛伊特’s 1918 situation. 的 college was facing the worst of the pandemic while navigating multiple crises: World War I, serious financial problems, and additional density from temporarily housing as many as 1,400 Student Army Training Corps wartime personnel.

的 pandemic reached 贝洛伊特 in October 1918 during the second and largest of three waves. 的 college responded quickly with emergency measures, checking all students for symptoms, moving commuter students into campus housing, and making sure SATC leaders supported enforcing a strict quarantine among student soldiers.

的 pressure was on to create a campus bubble.

Students wielded their pens to urge conformity. Berzon includes a revealing passage from the 1918 圆桌: “It has been ru更多的d that some of our number have been so far negligent of their responsibility to society as to break quarantine…we have no tangible proof of this charge [but]…if you are bent upon suicide, please choose a method that will not turn it into murder.”

的 贝洛伊特 Alumnus magazine reported five influenza-related deaths that year, all among the SATC student-soldiers.

Berzon’s research revealed correspondence from College President Melvin Brannon, who wrote years later that “No other institution in the United States had any comparable record with influenza. 的 government reported that 十大菠菜台子 was the ‘Blue Ribbon College’ in the U.S.A. in this scourge.”