RE-ACTION

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 42, 14 November 1918, Page 3

RE-ACTION

THE INFLUENZA EPIDEMIC. The. triumphant rejoicing • and merrymaking of 'luosilay <Ued away ami ga\u place to a silence tiiat was almost sinister which brooded over our streets yesterday morning. iS'o joyously crowded trams clanged along our highways, the milkmen hurried through their rounds earlier than usual, and there was hardly any vehicular traffic except a .few holiday motors to,be seen. Nearly all/the shops were closed, but chemists did a thriving trade m disinfectants and . preventive medicines ail day. Nevertheless, in suite. _ of many precautions, .influenza is gaining ground, relentlessly. There is hardly a house big or small, crowded or enjoying the luxury o|, plenty of air space, that has not its cfuota of sufferers. In' doctors' homes the position is growing most i acute. The telephone bell is just one continuous ring, and it is now the task of one person to sit beside it nil day taking numbers and messages and trying to pacify those people who demand immediate attention. 1 As for the doctors themselves, and numbers of nurses trained and untrained, their life is one continual round of work and rush and anxiety, all of (which impose a very heavy strain upon the nervous system, and too often exact a very heavy toll from it in payment. To-day, however, the new relief measures will b? inaugurated, and the dividing up of the city inlo blocks will prevent overlapping and unnecessary work. Unusual sights are to be fcen everywhere in our streets jjist now. One was a very quaint, sad little j?rnnn—an elderly working man accompanied by two of his mn+ps was. carryin» along a wre buhy enuu'fed in shawls. Th» entire trio linked *irl s>'hl' wistful as rhev hurried with their precious nhnrf". Fern and there iiwinl" who fp't dizzy and fiinfc just pmm'ed t!<emselyc« nn on kerbs or shon window-ledsres, and th° evidence nf the disease was to-be secured on all sides. . .