When Denver Backed Off Social Distancing In The 1918 Pandemic, The Results Were Deadly History Repeats Its Self

Information Man Speaks PODCAST

While some experts tried to calm fears by saying the Spanish influenza epidemic was "ordinary influenza by another name," according to John Barry, the author of the book "The Great Influenza," by the end of the pandemic, an estimated 675,000 Americans died, primarily in the fall of 1918, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Five days later, Denver Post headlines blared the bad news: "All Flu Records Smashed in Denver in Last 24 Hours," claiming that more Denver residents had died of influenza than Coloradans killed in the First World War. In the end, 8,000 people in Colorado died, but the towns that socially isolated consistently, like Gunnison, did far better than Denver.