The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1918-10-12
FALLING Off IN
INFLUENZA CASES
Total for Past Two Days
About Equals Those on
Wednesday
LOCAL SITUATION
SEEMS ENCOURAGING
Five Cases Reported to Health Officer
Tucker Up to / O'Clock Today, Bal
ancing Same Period Yesterday-De-
ductions of Specialists.

There was an increase of but one in
the number of homes quarantined in
Brattleboro for influenza yesterday over
those of the previous "A hours, nine
cards being placed yesterday by Health
Officer Henry Tucker. DR.. Tucker had
received reports of the appearance of
the disease in FIVE families up to l
o'clock today, which balanced the num-
Der reported at the same time yester-
day No material increase in the num-
ber of cases in Brattleboro is antici-
pated by the physicians and health of
ficials.
With no deaths from the disease since
Tuesday, the reports of II homes quar-
antined Thursday and Friday as COM
pared with Is homes on "Wednesday
! throw a 0lI Ger light on the situation
here. Everyone has reason to feel that
Brattleboro has been particularly for
| tunate to have had so few cases in COM
| parison to the large number in nearby
| towns in Massachusetts, Vermont and
| New Hampshire. To have had but seven
| deaths from the effects of the malady in
| the past two weeks, when approximate
| ly 230 cases have been under quaran-
| tine, is surprising.
Lyman Streeter, who is critically Ill
! in the emergency hospital. remains
about the same. All other patients there
| are doing well. The boy who was to be
| discharged from the Institution yester-
day did not leave until this morning.
| One patient was taken to the hospital
| yesterday.
The following paragraphs regarding
the gauze macks are taken from an
article by Brewster C. Doust, NJ. D.,
captain in the medical corps, L. S.
army, and Arthur Bates Lyon, NJ. D.,
lieutenant in the medical corps, of New
York, from the hospital of the Rookie
feller Institute for Medical Research,
published in the Oct. II issue of The
Journal of the American Medical Asso-
ciation:
''Our work has convinced us of the
futility of masks constructed from tho
coarser types of gauze, irrespective of
thickness. We were constantly able to
cough organisms through 10 thieknesses
of such material. A threelayer butter
cloth mask, however, appears to be eff
fective in preventing the distribution of
, organisms from the mouth even during
violent coughing. We have repeated
experiments with this mask both be-
fore and after washing, with uniform
results. Such a mask is not only ef-
fective, but easy TO make and perfectly
comfortable to wear.
"These masks are also inexpensive
The quoted price per square yard of
buttercloth is IA cents. A square yard
makes nine masks, each three layers
in thickness Each mask requires 56
inches of tape, costing about two cents
The cost per mask therefore is only be
tween three and four cents, exclusive
of labor A mask may be repeatedly
washed and used indefinitely An in
= delible mark should be made on one
Y side of the mask, and when the mask i.
e put on the same side should be mex
d to the face.
o "'We have been using these masks il
S the hospital of the Rockefeller Insti
tute for physicians and nurses, and il
$ some instances for patients. for exam
8 pie, during carriage to and from th
i iroentgcn ray room, or when being
: moved about the corridors. They ais
have been used for ambulatory patient
o with head colds or other mild respira
e tory infections. 1ts&
e 81. During ordinary or loud speech
J infected material from the mouth i
rarely projected sto a distance of fou
7 feet, and usually less. A fourfoot dan
Z ger zone exists about the patient undo
~ these conditions.
u .'2. During coughing infected ma
terial from the mouth may be projecte
at least 10 feet. The danger zon
about coughing patient has, then,
minimum radius of 10 feet.
"3. Masks of coarse or mediul
Z gauze or from two to 10 layers do nc
prevent the projection of infected m;
/, terial from the mouth during coughin,
!. Such masks are worthless, therefore,
! preventing the dissemination of respir;
: tory infections.
81. A three-layer buttercloth mas
is efficient in preventing the projeetio