Page 26 - Bulletin 23- 2020

22

SPANISH FLU, 1918 – 1919, in CAPE TOWN

Barrie Gasson

Following are transcriptions of articles dealing with aspects of the Spanish Flu Epidemic in
Cape Town, 1918-1919.

The Cape Times, 9 October, 1918

FIGHT AGAINST EPIDEMIC
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ENERGETIC CAMPAIGN IN THE CITY
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No signs of abatement in the terrible scourge which is sweeping through the Peninsula
were visible yesterday – in fact, the indications are that the disease has not yet reached its
maximum. The one reassuring note about the situation, however, is the number of organized
forces which have suddenly combined in the attack to stay the ravages of the common foe. In
addition to the official bodies responsible for the protection of public health, merchants,
professional men, ministers of all religions, and the lady members of various philanthropic
institutions are throwing themselves whole-heartedly into the work of ministering to the sick
and relieving the widespread distress that exists.
____________________

Early yesterday morning the authorities were at work establishing emergency depots
for the distribution of medicines, milk, soup etc., and before the day was over practically
everything that had been arranged the day before had been carried into effect. One of the first
things the Council did was to put in hand the erection of a tent town at Rentzkie’s Farm,
Maitland, for isolation and treatment purposes. The chief class of patients for which the camp
is intended will be those taken from dwellings where the risk of the infection spreading to the
other members of the household exists. This is known to be one of the most fruitful of the
causes which lead to the spread of the disease. The concentration of patients will largely
conserve doctors’ energies enabling them to give attention to far greater numbers than when
the patients are scattered over a wide area.
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The Reception Hall, at the City Hall, was the central depot for dispensing medicines,
and here a constant stream of dejected-looking applicants passed through the doors, emerging
a little while afterwards with brighter faces to hurry away to home where it is to be feared in
many cases the remedy would arrive too late. Some of those who managed to reach the depot
were found in advanced stages of the disease, and had to be carried to a motor ambulance for
conveyance to Rentzkie’s Farm. The arrangements for serving the applicants worked smoothly.