Coronavirus compared to Spanish flu

by Murrel Bland

More than 100 years ago, in the fall of 1918, Kansas and Wyandotte County, along with the rest of the world, faced a severe challenge because of the Spanish Influenza.

Front page stories in The Kansas City Kansan, told of the pandemic with such headlines as “ALL STATE CLOSED,” “FLU SPREADS FAST” and “A FLU DEATH HERE.”

The present coronavirus pandemic has caused a comparison to the influenza illness in 1918. Many historians who have studied that illness agree that it had its origin in hog pens in Haskell County near Dodge City, Kansas, in early 1918. Young men from southwest Kansas joined the U.S. Army and were sent to Camp Funston which is now Ft. Riley at Junction City, Kansas.

Reports indicated that about 500 soldiers had the flu in early March of 1918 at Camp Funston. Many of these soldiers were sent to Europe to fight in World War I. It didn’t take long for the disease to spread across the globe. By the fall of 1918, the flu made its way back to Kansas.

Dr. Frederick Holmes, a professor of medicine emeritus at the University of Kansas, has researched and written about the disease and the larger role of KU professors had in training and assisting in World War I. He was a featured speaker at a quarterly meeting of the Wyandotte County Historical Society marking the centennial of the end of World War I in the fall of 2018.

The University of Kansas at Lawrence was closed during October 1918. A front page story in the University Daily Kansan told students not to go to class, but were forbidden to leave Lawrence. Students suffering from the flu were ordered to report to the University Hospital. The KU varsity football schedule was cut from eight to four games.

A review of records of the Kansas State Board of Health from 1918 indicated that 2,639 died of influenza. Of those, 298 were from Wyandotte County. Estimates are that more than 646,000 Americans died of the flu—more than twice the number of United States personnel that were killed or wounded in World War I. As many as 30 million persons may have died of the flu worldwide.

Looking at the numbers from the coronavirus, we see that more than 60,000 deaths in the United States have been recorded so far with more than 226,000 deaths worldwide. As of late April 2020, there have been 55 deaths in Wyandotte County, mostly in nursing homes.

The fact that it was called the “Spanish flu” was a misnomer. During World War I, Spain was neutral and therefore was not subject to censorship. It could report all the gory details of war. Its ruler, King Alfonso XIII, was afflicted with the flu. Some people in Spain refer to it as the “French flu.”

Information for this article was taken from history.com and the files of The Wyandotte County Museum and the Kansas State Historical Society.

Murrel Bland is the former editor of The Wyandotte West and The Piper Press. He is editor of History News.

COVID-19 cases increase by 297 in Kansas, 53 in Wyandotte County

Positive COVID-19 cases in Wyandotte County increased by 53 to a total of 762, according to the Unified Government’s COVID-19 webpage. The number of deaths, 55, stayed the same as Friday. (UG COVID-19 webpage)
A graph from the UG’s COVID-19 page showed the number of cases in Wyandotte County. (UG COVID-19 webpage)
The state of Kansas reported 297 more COVID-19 cases, for a total of 4,746 on Saturday. (KDHE map)

Wyandotte County reported 762 positive COVID-19 cases on Saturday, an increase of 53 cases since Friday, according to the Unified Government’s COVID-19 webpage.

Positive COVID-19 cases in the state of Kansas increased 297 cases to total 4,746, with one additional death for a total of 131 deaths reported, according to the statistics on the Kansas Department of Health and Environment website.

Wyandotte County no longer had the most cases of COVID-19 in Kansas, as it was passed Saturday by Ford County, reporting 770 cases, according to figures from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. Dodge City, Kansas, is in Ford County, and there are meatpacking plant outbreaks reported there.

On Saturday, Johnson County reported 486 cases; and Leavenworth County, 386 cases, according to the KDHE.

Eighty Kansas counties reported positive cases. Some of the other counties reporting large numbers of COVID-19 cases included: Seward County (Liberal area), 539; Finney County (Garden City area), 451; Sedgwick County (Wichita area), 391; Lyon County (Emporia area), 245; and Shawnee County (Topeka area), 126.

Douglas County (Lawrence area) reported 51 cases, and Riley County (Manhattan area) reported 52 cases, according to the KDHE.

The 53-case increase in Wyandotte County was from the figure the UG reported at 4:45 p.m. on Friday, as compared to the number the UG reported at 1:50 p.m. Saturday.

COVID-19 outbreaks in Wyandotte County

Outbreaks of five or more cases in Wyandotte County, are listed on the Wyandotte County COVID-19 Hub page at https://wyandotte-county-covid-19-hub-unifiedgov.hub.arcgis.com/.

From information from the COVID-19 Hub page and from the Unified Government Commission meeting of 5 p.m. Thursday, April 30, were these outbreak locations, with five or more cases, in Wyandotte County included:

• Riverbend Post-Acute Rehabilitation facility, 7850 Freeman Ave., Kansas City, Kansas, 132 cases, 32 deaths.
• Life Care Center of Kansas City, 3231 N. 51st St., Kansas City, Kansas, 13 cases, 2 deaths.
• Delaware Highlands Assisted Living, 12600 Delaware Parkway, Kansas City, Kansas, 18 cases.

• Miracle Temple Minister’s Conference, 2106 Quindaro Blvd., Kansas City, Kansas, 55 cases, 8 deaths.
• Rising Star Baptist Church, 1034 Walker Ave., Kansas City, Kansas, 7 cases, 1 death.
• House of Guadalupe Convent, 2226 Troup Ave., Kansas City, Kansas, 6 cases.

• National Beef Packaging, 100 Osage Ave., Kansas City, Kansas, 28 cases, no deaths.
• Kellogg’s Bakery, 801 Sunshine Road, Kansas City, Kansas, 19 cases, no deaths.
• Premier Custom Foods, 756 Pawnee Ave., Kansas City, Kansas, 10 cases, no deaths.
• El Torito Supermarket, 1409 Central Ave., Kansas City, Kansas, 7 cases, no deaths.

• Donnelly College construction site, 608 N. 18th St., Kansas City, Kansas, 8 cases.

The UG’s COVID-19 webpage is at https://alpha.wycokck.org/Coronavirus-COVID-19-Information.

The Wyandotte County reopening plan, a 41-page document, was posted Thursday night at https://www.wycokck.org/WycoKCK/media/Health-Department/Documents/Communicable%20Disease/COVID19/RestartWYCOGuidanceDocument043020.pdf

The Kansas COVID-19 website is at https://covid.ks.gov/.


The Kansas COVID-19 resource page is at https://govstatus.egov.com/coronavirus


Information from the CDC is at https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/.

Additional funding announced for Kansas hospitals affected by COVID-19

On Friday, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported 4,449 positive COVID-19 cases and 130 deaths. It was an increase of 211 cases and one death. (Map from KDHE)
New Kansas cases are in blue and total cases are in yellow in this chart. (KDHE chart)
Wyandotte County reported 709 cases on Friday, an increase of 35 from Thursday. There was no change in the death rate. (From UG COVID_19 webpage)

U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, today announced an additional $400 million will be provided to Kansas hospitals affected by COVID-19.

The funding will come from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. According to Sen. Moran, an initial grant of $18 to a Kansas hospital that treated a lot of COVID-19 cases will be followed by $382 million to be distributed among 201 rural health care providers affected by COVID-19.

On Friday morning, Sen. Moran said in a video news conference at the University of Kansas Health Service that he was supporting a measure that would allow public hospitals to qualify for the federal Paycheck Protection Program. Hospitals that were sponsored by cities or counties could not get access to that program in the past.

At most hospitals, revenues are down while expenses are up as a result of COVID-19.

Sen. Moran also said today that additional funding for the Paycheck Protection Program recently passed, and local small businesses could apply for loans again with local lenders, beginning Monday.

Sen. Moran said he was concerned about doing everything possible to make sure employees in the meatpacking industry are safe. The industry is important to consumers and also to the livestock sector as well, he said.

After reports that large companies received funds under the PPP law, U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids, D-3rd Dist., has sent a letter on Thursday asking the Treasury Department to release a list of companies receiving loans. Nearly $700 billion was allocated for the small business loans, and there have been reports larger businesses received loans while some smaller businesses could not get the loans.

Sen. Moran said in answer to a question at the news conference that they can never not have concerns about abuse of government programs, and what Congress intended and what the law allowed could be different. Also, it may be hard to punish people who didn’t break the law, he added.

He said he also supported more accountability for the program. The challenge with this law was the rapidity with which Congress and the SBA had to move, he added. Usually, more time is taken to consider the language of the bills and to put new laws into place.

Sen. Moran also said he had spent time this week in trying to find more tests for Kansas to use in broad-scale testing. Gov. Laura Kelly previously has announced 25,000 more tests are coming to Kansas from the federal government this week.

Dr. Lee Norman, Kansas secretary of health, said at the news conference today that statewide, they are looking at three primary indicators in deciding to move forward to the next stage. They are the death rate per capita, the hospitalization rate per capita and the prevalence per disease per capita. These three indicators are improving, he said.

The state is doing more testing now, and finding more illness. Dr. Norman said that the state now has received more testing kits and swabs, allowing more testing.

Dr. Norman said it appears that the state COVID-19 cases peaked on April 17 or 18.

The plan is to gradually reopen the state, and they are trying to be in the middle of the opinions on reopening or staying closed.

The success of the reopening will depend on people exercising caution, he said.

Gov. Kelly announced the reopening plan on Thursday night, with counties allowed to exercise a measure of control based on their own circumstances.

Dr. Steve Stites, chief medical officer for the University of Kansas Health System, said Kansas and the Kansas City area have done a good job of bending the curve.

As reopening plans move forward, residents will have to continue to follow the rules of good hygiene, including hand washing, not touching your face, and social distancing.

Dr. Norman said people are likely to see changes coming to workplaces as a result of this pandemic.
For example, some may change the way air circulates in the workplace. Some offices may do away with “benching,” where workers share common areas working at benches, he said.

Telework will probably become more widespread, according to Dr. Norman, while there may be more flexible scheduling, and changes in the breakroom.

Statewide positive cases increase 211

On Friday, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported 4,449 positive COVID-19 cases and 130 deaths. It was an increase of 211 cases and one death.

Wyandotte County reported 709 cases, an increase of 35 cases; Johnson County, 471 cases; and Leavenworth County, 372 cases.

In other areas of the state, Ford County had 675 cases, an increase of 27 cases; Seward County, 514 cases; Sedgwick County, 384 cases; Finney County, 386 cases; Lyon County, 210 cases; and Shawnee County, 121 cases.


To view the KU Health System news conference, visit https://www.facebook.com/kuhospital

The Wyandotte County reopening plan, a 41-page document, was posted Thursday night at https://www.wycokck.org/WycoKCK/media/Health-Department/Documents/Communicable%20Disease/COVID19/RestartWYCOGuidanceDocument043020.pdf

The Kansas COVID-19 website is at https://covid.ks.gov/.


The Kansas COVID-19 resource page is at https://govstatus.egov.com/coronavirus

The UG’s COVID-19 webpage is at https://alpha.wycokck.org/Coronavirus-COVID-19-Information.


Information from the CDC is at https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/.