what happened during the INFLUENZA epidemic and New Zealand's response to it:
The influenza virus, being a disease, naturally infected people during the 1918 epidemic. However, once the second strain of the Spanish Influenza virus struck New Zealand, the number of cases of illness rapidly increased.
George Russell was a politician at the time, and with many of the senior New Zealand Health Officials overseas, he stepped up and became Health Czar/Health Minister. One of his many duties as Health Czar was to co opt the defense department, who were in turn in charge of getting people though the epidemic. Russell's first order of business was to declare that the influenza was a “notifiable, infectious disease”(1). Six days later, he issued a circular telegram to all borough councils and town boards. The main features of the telegram were that it gave full initiative to the local authorities to deal with the disease as they pleased, in the most efficient way they could think of, and resulted in the formation of committees.
Some places, such as Dunedin, had already begun to take measures to help those infected. However it is thought that Russell’s telegram helped by giving local authorities greater power to contain the virus’s spread. The telegram also prompted the majority of other cities and towns into action. Thus, the New Zealand response to the influenza was quite consistent.
A sign declaring theaters closed, put in place by local authorities.
George Russell was a politician at the time, and with many of the senior New Zealand Health Officials overseas, he stepped up and became Health Czar/Health Minister. One of his many duties as Health Czar was to co opt the defense department, who were in turn in charge of getting people though the epidemic. Russell's first order of business was to declare that the influenza was a “notifiable, infectious disease”(1). Six days later, he issued a circular telegram to all borough councils and town boards. The main features of the telegram were that it gave full initiative to the local authorities to deal with the disease as they pleased, in the most efficient way they could think of, and resulted in the formation of committees.
Some places, such as Dunedin, had already begun to take measures to help those infected. However it is thought that Russell’s telegram helped by giving local authorities greater power to contain the virus’s spread. The telegram also prompted the majority of other cities and towns into action. Thus, the New Zealand response to the influenza was quite consistent.
One such consistent response of the local authorities was to close and restrict the opening hours of businesses, public facilities and gathering places, for example factories, billiard rooms, theatres, the tram rail business and even schools. Many factories/businesses that weren’t closed down by the government ended up closing anyway, due to a lack of healthy workers.
Inhalation chambers were another consistent response of the government. People attended these chambers and got their throats sprayed with zinc sulphide. This was done to prevent the spread of the disease; it was hoped the spray would kill the virus. In actual fact, as the throat of an infected person could be sprayed one minute, and the throat of uninfected person the next, it’s popular belief that the chambers helped more to spread the disease than prevent it.
Treatment was sent to victims. Temporary hospitals were set up to help treat the large number of the infected. In Wellington, emergency ambulances were formed. Furthermore, medical teams were formed and sent to areas that were so badly hit with the influenza that the residents were in no condition to travel to hospitals.
The government also tried to get medicine out to as many people as possible. They did this by establishing public dispensaries. These dispensaries were set up in city squares and other popular areas. Medicine was handed out to the sick. All the medicine prescribed and given out had to be of government standard. There were no vaccines available in New Zealand for the influenza at the time. Ultimately, the best the government could do was to provide the civilians with medicine and advise them to stay away from the infected.
As mentioned above, as a result of Russell’s telegram, committees were organised. These committees were known as Central committees and their main job was to co ordinate and carry out relief efforts. Areas were divided into blocks and districts, and the committees were charged with assigning a certain number of people to each “district”, to ensure that their residents were well looked after.
Inhalation chambers were another consistent response of the government. People attended these chambers and got their throats sprayed with zinc sulphide. This was done to prevent the spread of the disease; it was hoped the spray would kill the virus. In actual fact, as the throat of an infected person could be sprayed one minute, and the throat of uninfected person the next, it’s popular belief that the chambers helped more to spread the disease than prevent it.
Treatment was sent to victims. Temporary hospitals were set up to help treat the large number of the infected. In Wellington, emergency ambulances were formed. Furthermore, medical teams were formed and sent to areas that were so badly hit with the influenza that the residents were in no condition to travel to hospitals.
The government also tried to get medicine out to as many people as possible. They did this by establishing public dispensaries. These dispensaries were set up in city squares and other popular areas. Medicine was handed out to the sick. All the medicine prescribed and given out had to be of government standard. There were no vaccines available in New Zealand for the influenza at the time. Ultimately, the best the government could do was to provide the civilians with medicine and advise them to stay away from the infected.
As mentioned above, as a result of Russell’s telegram, committees were organised. These committees were known as Central committees and their main job was to co ordinate and carry out relief efforts. Areas were divided into blocks and districts, and the committees were charged with assigning a certain number of people to each “district”, to ensure that their residents were well looked after.
The Government tried to keep the public well informed about the influenza virus. It offered information on how best to deal with the disease and those who have it. Important medical notes were published in the papers. The Health Committee handed out flyers that held instructions for volunteer nurses and family members caring for the sick. The flyers had information on how to deal with influenza cases that ranged from mild to extreme, and also held suggestions of appropriate food and medicine that could be offered to patients. Among other things, the flyers explained that patients should be kept in isolation as much as possible, in bright rooms with windows fully open so that fresh air could be easily obtained.
Throughout the influenza epidemic the Health Department was held in high esteem. Before the government took large actions, such as spraying disinfectant on railway carriages, they would first get the Health Department’s opinion, as they were meant to be the experts.
Volunteers, relief organisations, doctors and nurses played a large part in helping the New Zealand public get through the epidemic. However, the timing of the influenza epidemic affected the efficiency of New Zealand’s response to it. The Medical workforce had been stretched extremely thin due to the first world war, and were in absolutely no condition to deal with the large numbers of influenza victims. They were so unprepared that volunteers had to be called upon to take up certain positions. These positions could be a simple as doing the washing up in a hospital, or as important as delivering medicine and goods to those too ill to leave their homes. Those who had access to, or owned, vehicles were in high demand. The government tried to make things more efficient in hospitals and tried to bring in more doctors and nurses. Adds were sent out, recruiting nurses and workers/volunteers. As stated by Miss Bagley of the Health Department, there were “more calls for assistance than could possibly be met” (2).
Nurses wearing masks over their mouths.
As the Medical Workforce--doctors and nurses--had to constantly be attending to, and surrounded by, those infected with the influenza virus, they had to take certain precautions to prevent themselves from catching the disease. They constantly had to wash their hands and wear masks over their mouths.
A large number of people were killed in the influenza. Coffins could not be produced fast enough to keep up with the number of the dead. Graves were left unmarked as it wasn't always possible to identify the body. Often, there wasn’t even time to give the victims a gravestone in the first place. The number of dead bodies just kept piling up. In Auckland, the Government deemed that dead bodies should be taken to Glen Eden and buried under trees.
Thus New Zealand’s response to the influenza epidemic mainly involved trying to contain the disease, reduce its spread, and treat those infected with it. Afterwards, once the influenza epidemic died down, and the New Zealand government slowly began to improve its health system, people in New Zealand eventually returned to their ordinary lives (though now more sombre and grief stricken than before).