The Washington herald., 1918-11-01
FLU LOSES ITS
GRASP ON CITY
Only Twelve Deaths Dur,
ing Past "a Hours;
Cases Drop.

Inc lnuuenZa eplOeIllC VIII soon
be history in the District OF Co
lumbia.
Only twelve deaths were reported
during the twenty-four hours ending
at o'clock last night, and the au-
thorities believe that the death toll
within a few days will drop below
ten. the epidemic mark.
During the last four weeks Wash
ington has suffered from one of the
most serious epidemics in the his
than smallpox, and one that has taken
more lives than have been lost on
the battle front in France, from
Washington homes.
All the resources of the city and ma
tion have been leagued together to
/ fight the scourge; Washington citi-
zens en- masse have answered the
call for volunteers to fight the mall
ady. Those who have been unable
to offer their services in caring for
others have been those who were
! caring for victims of influenza in
their own homes.
] New Cases Mild.
How successful their fight has
been, is answered by the unexpect-
edly rapid recovery of the city from
/ the disease. other cities stricken
before Washington are still battling
with the plague, though in the ma
| jority of sections where it first ap-
peared decided improvement is re-
ported.
Only 219 new cases were reported
yesterday. The majority of these
are said to be unusually mild.
In view of the improved situat on.
the Public Health Service in charge
of the emergency relief work, has
decided to disband its sub-stations
at the Van Ness, Curtis, and Wilson
Normal Schools. The work, here
after. will be centered at the Web
ster School. the central office of the
emergency work of the service.
No other cases will be taken in
charge. and only those now in she
care of the service will be attended
by the service physicians and
nurses. The health authorities be-
/ lieye that local physicians can now
handle the situation in the normal
manner without any special outside
aid
/ substations Disband.
with the disbanding of the sub
stations came announcement that
! Lieut.. Howard Fisk, in charge of
\ the transportation service, has re-
turned to duty at the Navy YARD.
| The work will henceforth be in
! charge of DR.. Herdliska, under
/ whose supervision it was first es-
! tablished.
While Washington has been un-
usually fortunate in escaping with
/ so few fatalities. compared to the
death rate in other cities, the au-
thortties warned the people of the
city that to prevent any recurrence
OF the disease a few simple precau-
ttons suggested by the health de-
partment must be rigidIy observed.
Fresh air is the best influenza
preventive" DR.. William Fowler,
district Health Officer, stated last
night. The people must be careful
10 keep their houses well ventilated
ana stay in the open as much as
possible"
The War Department issued :. state
ment last night that the crest of the
| epidemic IN the army had been passed
In the week ending October 25 all
camps except three reported a mark
ed decrease in the number of new
cases the average being about one
third that Of the preceding week. The
total figures were 1886 compared
with 1879.
pneumonia cases reported from the
army cases. were 1872 compared with
2'6lS for the previous week, the death
rate dropping from 169 to 40 in the
divisional camps, from 212 to 81 in the
eantonments, and from ia to I05 in
the several army departments.