Sign Up And Receive Our Latest Updates!
.svg){kind=small}
.svg){kind=small}
No pandemic plan
When the Spanish Flu hit in 1918, New Zealand had no pandemic plan. The result was a national disaster with a legacy that would influence our Covid–19 response.
As World War One ended, a greater threat was on the horizon - a global pandemic.
National disorganisation proves deadly
New Zealand’s public health officials and government leaders were slow to react to the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic.
No one yet knew that this influenza strain was different, or that it was caused by a virus – microscopes powerful enough to see viruses would not be invented for another 20 years while the pneumonia that killed people would not be treatable until the discovery of penicillin ten years later.
With flu established by November 1918 and spreading fast, the government, which had been focused on World War One, had no pandemic plan. Different regions around country managed the public health response in different ways with varying degrees of success.
War cripples health response
The Minister of Health had a reduced public health service because of World War One, and soon between a third and a half of the country’s population was infected by the flu. In most towns and cities, public services were scaled back or cut altogether. Theatres, hotels and schools closed as did factories and banks. Critical coastal shipping stopped. Food and coal shortages were common. The reporting of deaths was banned to prevent public panic while towns were divided into blocks with supply depots. Committees were established to coordinate relief with Boy Scouts running free food and medicine to sick families. Many doctors and nurses were still overseas leaving a vacuum of health professionals at home.
Organised Christchurch fares best
In Auckland and Wellington, temporary hospitals opened in schools, halls and boarding houses – many without trained nursing staff. Volunteers went door to door, transporting the sick to these temporary clinics. Once there, they were wrapped in pneumonia jackets to help treat fevers.
In Christchurch, where trained volunteers were on hand from organisations like the Red Cross, Women’s National Reserve and St John’s Ambulance, a fleet of cars was enlisted to visit homes and remove only the dangerously unwell to hospital. No temporary hospitals were set up in Christchurch and instead, medical staff and trained volunteers provided care in centralised centres. Treatment in Christchurch also differed. Aspirin and sponge baths were used to control fevers rather than pneumonia jackets. Most people recovered in their homes.
In Wellington and Auckland, civic leaders waited for government guidance from the Ministry of Health before taking action. Christchurch did not. Its district health officer quickly closed schools and theatres, stopped passengers disembarking off ships, banned spitting in public and organised chemists to extend their hours.
The result was a death rate for Christchurch half that of Auckland and Wellington. Better living conditions also helped. Unlike Auckland and Wellington, which had slum areas with poor-quality and overcrowded housing, Christchurch had more spacious homes in less intensive suburbs. Bigger sections with open air environments helped prevent spread of the virus.
