One of the aspects of a flu pandemic that hasn't been discussed much is the effect it would likely have on ordinary daily life. This story touches only on the quarantines that might be imposed on travelers coming into the country. But there would certainly be quarantines affecting citizens, too. During the horrible 1918 pandemic, all public gatherings were forbidden in many cities; in this Michigan newspaper history piece, we read that people were even calling for laws against coughing in public. Here in Fort Wayne, public life all but came to a standstill. Stores closed, and schools, and everything else, as people stayed home and tried to wait it out.
