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  1918-09-17

  The Boston Globe's Blunder

  My flu files project is about this article from the Boston Globe, published on September 17th, 1918, nearly 102 years ago and just as the Spanish Flu was starting to become a serious issue in the United States. While the disease was yet to wreak the havoc that would eventually ensue, the seriousness of the flu was already well known, especially around military installations where it originated and often spread. The author’s choice to open with the disclosure of the barber at the base being infected is actually quite clever, because it shows that not only is the flu spreading rapidly, but that people in specific positions being infected is exponentially more dangerous as they will be exposed to more people (and in the case of a barber be quite close to them) giving them more opportunities to spread the flu. It is very apparent how the article tries to prevent panic by slightly underselling the seriousness of the pandemic, stating nonchalantly that “It was made known today that there are more than 3000 cases of Spanish Influenza at the base hospital now”. 3000 cases at a single military base is absolutely devastating but the article attempts to soften it in the next sentence by stating that “not all cases are serious” and “there is room at the hospital for 1500 more cases”. Even if that is true it is clear that the situation was already far from under control and obviously did not get much better from there. The article describes how the base has had to put a soft quarantine on the hospital and has repurposed an additional 12 wards of the hospital just for dealing with the flu. The section finally ends optimistically, stating that the flu has likely reached its zenith at the base. These attempts to distract or under exaggerate numbers of pandemics to prevent mass hysteria are unfortunately quite familiar to anyone who has been following more recent events, and in both cases many of them have been proven wrong.
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  2020-03-29

  Poll: Vast Support for Widespread Shutdowns to Protect Mass. Public Health, press release

  Eighty percent of Massachusetts residents support Gov. Baker's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, with 96 percent supporting school closures, 94 percent approving the halt of restaurant dining-in, 93 percent supporting the shuttering of bars, and 92 percent agreeing that nonessential businesses should be closed to the public, according to a Suffolk University/Boston Globe poll.
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  2020-05-05

  Suffolk University/WGBH News/Boston Globe Poll: Coronavirus Has Cut Income for Nearly Half of Mass. Residents

  The survey examined the economic fallout from the pandemic in Massachusetts, the extension of the stay-at-home advisory and closing of nonessential businesses, state and national leadership during the pandemic, perceptions about compliance with wearing masks and social distancing, comfort levels for resuming certain activities, and mail-in voting.