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Sunday, October 2, 2016

Spanish influenza epidemic arrives in Washington October 3, 1918

HistoryLink.org: The Flu Invades

On October 3, 1918, the worldwide Spanish influenza epidemic officially arrived in Washington with the report of 700 cases and one death at the University of Washington's Naval Training Center

During the next six months 1,600 lives were lost in Seattle alone. The disease left no part of the state untouched, and 70 years later Kenneth Knoll recalled in great detail its effects in Spokane.

Others affected by the flu included singer Linnie Love, who was stricken performing for troops at Camp Lewis; journalist Emmett Watson, whose mother and twin brother fell victim shortly after his birth in 1918; and noted author Mary McCarthy, who lost her parents to the disease and later wrote of the difficulties she faced afterward.




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