This isn't Boulder's first or last pandemic

In September 1918, a group of soldiers came from Montana to the University of Colorado, in Boulder. Within a week, nearly 100 soldiers fell ill with the Spanish Flu and were quarantined.

At the time, Boulder was a city of about 10,000 residents, and health resources were limited--fraternity houses became hospitals and convalescent wards, but most people were cared for by their families in their homes. Chief public health officer M. E. Miles declared Boulder to be quarantined--schools, churches and even the university were shut down. On Oct. 15, the state governor ordered the first statewide quarantine.

On Oct. 26, 1918, a public announcement was published in the Daily Camera, urging people to "...keep your hands out of your mouth. Don't go to crowded places... Avoid persons who sneeze or cough. Smother your coughs and sneeze in a handkerchief... Don't visit the sick. Keep out of houses where there are patients... Don't neglect early symptoms... Don't worry."

Teachers were brought together in an "influenza brigade," which handed out tally cards which were to be placed in the windows of homes to publicly inform how many sick people were in that house. The public health department even released the names and addresses of new cases in the "Daily Camera."

"As sad as it is," said Jamie Boyle, interim executive director of Historic Boulder, "it had an effect on enforcing quarantine rules."

The official quarantine lifted on Nov. 11 as World War I ended, but Boulder still encouraged people to limit interactions with others. The flu ultimately claimed 119 people in Boulder, but due to the quick quarantine and recommended precautions, Boulder's loss was minimal compared to other cities that took longer to institute one. They didn't call it "social distancing" at the time, but the city's practice of it, especially during the frigidly cold 1918 winter contributed to the flu's fairly short time in Boulder.

"History belongs to the people," said Boyle. "We don't have much of a future without knowing how we got here." She, like many historians and even public health officials, believes that there is a lot that can be learned from how America handled the Spanish Flu. It swept the nation in 1918, killing 675,000 people in one year. In fact, more WWI soldiers died from the flu than from fighting in the war itself.

"If everyone could do the research, ... we wouldn't be having this argument (about social distancing)," Boyle said. She explained the similarities between the two epidemics--the various sources of information, the pushback and the responses. In 1918, it was essentially America's first national pandemic and science was still being discovered.

Newspapers and governments were constantly releasing information, and edits to that information. For example, people quickly realized that large gatherings indoors likely led to higher rates of infection. But at the time, people believed that open air flow would limit it, so large gatherings outdoors were still allowed for a time. Now, with social media and the internet, news is spreading faster, and information is being shared and updated constantly.

Similar to today's constantly evolving discussion on the general public's use of masks, the rules about if masks were necessary and who used them constantly changed back then too. "The public's reaction now is similar to the reaction then," Boyle said. "It was the first time they were faced with a pandemic. That pushback makes sense, but today, there is so much historical evidence that supports social distancing."

Similarly, CU Heritage Center curator Mona Lambrecht puts forth that five weeks of quarantine wasn't enough one hundred years ago, and it's possible that it won't be enough time now. "Public health is a public effort," she said. "While we might see our towns and counties improving...we could quickly and unintentionally spread the disease."

Since Boulder was the first city really hit in Colorado, it had the least amount of time to react. Because it instituted a quarantine so soon, it managed to fare relatively well compared to other cities that waited longer to institute social distancing rules. Boyle described how in Gunnison, they had enough time to prepare that the local government shut the town down--they essentially said, "Drive through or be prepared to be quarantined if you stop." Gunnison ended up only having two cases because of this strict policy.

"We could have done (something like) that," Boyle argues. "We had enough time and information we could have prepared (more)." She recognizes that the two diseases themselves are different, but stressed that the lessons and situation are very similar. Lambrecht agrees, saying that by looking to the past, we can evaluate our present situation and make better educated decisions.

"Illness is a social beast, as unpleasant as it is, hunkering down and waiting it out is the best thing to do," she said. "You have to do your part and try to keep the herd safe. It's happened before, it's tragic, but life will go on, this will end."