More than 2,300 people died in Hawaii during the influenza epidemic of 1918-1920, according to a 1999 article in the Hawaiian Journal of History by former state statistician Robert Schmidt and population researcher Eleanor C. Nordyke. This total does not include deaths of military personnel, although the flu broke out first at the Schofield military base in Wahiawa in June 1918. The Honolulu Star-Bulletin reported at the time that 600 soldiers at Schofield were sick as the disease hit the islands.
“During the first calendar year for which figures on flu cases were compiled, 1919, total cases numbered 12,499,” Schmidt and Nordyke found.
Although the first cases were seen in mid-1918, the flu didn’t peak in Hawaii until 1920, well behind the U.S. mainland.
Hawaii’s death rate (per 100,000 population) during the 1920 peak exceeded that of the U.S. mainland during it’s peak year of 1918. The highest rate of death from the flu in Hawaii was among Hawaiians, Filipinos, and Japanese, while Caucasians experienced the lowest death rate.
The pandemic also took place in a time of serious labor unrest, which culminated in the great sugar strike of 1920. According to Kuykendall and Day, “Management responded by evicting 12,000 strikers [from plantation housing]. About half of these came to Honolulu, which was in the throes of an influenza epidemic; and it was estimated that 1,200 members of strikers’ families died of this disease.”
See Robert C. Schmidt and Eleanor C. Nordyke, “Influenza Deaths in Hawai’i, 1918—1920,” Hawaii Journal of History, Vol. 33 (1999)
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Very interesting. On utube one can watch a documentary on the epidemic’s effect on the world. Much like the sugar incident mentioned above, forcing more citizen congregation, the war necessitated troops moving all over the US (started in crowded confinement of men in Kansas) and in war zones where troops were shoulder to shoulder in more unhealthy conditions.
Noting that that pandemic lasted 2years can alert is not to expect relief by April end.
Thanks for this..it definitely lends some important historical perspective on what we are going through..especially that we lagged behind the mainland…like we are doing now!
Thanks, Julie!
There’s been much less than adequate reporting here about how the army and marines handle training exercises and mess halls — both requiring close contact. How can ships operate on deployment without close personnel contact?
We need more of that than what kind of anti-missile tests are planned.
Reporters should be looking at military housing rules and regs and the hospital readiness at Tripler.
How does the regular old Flu not rate this much attention? Not an anti vaxer to be found when you don’t have it too offer! Give it time, the anti ventilator society will return!
Here is why “regular old flu” is not rating much attention.
https://www.sciencealert.com/the-new-coronavirus-isn-t-like-the-flu-but-they-have-one-big-thing-in-common
I’m not sure we get a choice of one or the other. People are dying of flu and people are dying of coronavirus. In Italy and Spain, coronavirus deaths (at this writing, 205 and 175 per million people, respectively) are already more than what would be expected from a year of influenza, and it’s only March.
There are three great societal shocks to Hawaii: the 1900 Bubonic Plague and Great Chinatown Fire, the 1941 Pearl Harbor Attack, and the current COVID-19 crisis. Two of the three events are pathogen-based. The 1900 plague was handled by the Honolulu Board of Health during the transition into the Territory of Hawaii. The BOH had enormous powers to burn homes (of plague victims) and all effects (clothes, furniture, anything). Unfortunately, an accident burned down 30 acres of what is/was Chinatown. For many Japanese, it resulted in complete destitution — and humiliation in detention camps (which were free of the pathogen). The Honolulu Japanese Chamber of Commerce was born out of this horrific tragedy — even today the words “Since 1900” is emblazoned on its banner. Also, many Nikkei (and Chinese, Portuguese, Hawaiian) families continued to talk about this event, of complete powerlessness against the state — and my hypothesis is that this historical memory led to the ’54 elections and the creation of the new State. Coincidentally, both 1900 and 2020 are the Year of the Rat.