As Oregon enters into new state-and county-wide restrictions due to rising COVID-19 cases, we continue to look to history to better understand current events. Thanks to historian Dr. Kimberly Jensen, we have added a new item to the 1918 influenza pandemic timeline on our blog.

The chart, published in the Oregon Daily Journal on January 27, 1919, depicts the rise and fall of the flu epidemic in Portland between October 1918 and January 1919.

Of particular note on the chart is the rise in cases and deaths in mid-November 1918, after social restrictions were eased, and another spike in January 1919 following failed attempts at new social restrictions in December 1918, including a mandatory face mask ordinance.

The post tracks the 1918 influenza pandemic's impact in Oregon and looks to historians who provide a historical context for this event among a series of World War I-era responses to citizenship, suffrage, surveillance, and the definition of Americanism.

https://www.ohs.org/blog/1918-influenza-in-oregon.cfm

We also encourage you to visit OHS's COVID-19 News and Resource Page at http://ohs.org/washyourhands , which provides updated OHS closure information, public health resources, and digital history resources that provide perspective on today's pandemic.