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Regina’s news headlines today bear a striking resemblance to those in The Morning Leader 102 years ago.

Back then, the health concern was epidemic influenza from the so-called Spanish flu. Today, it’s the COVID-19 pandemic coronavirus.

The viruses shared symptoms — including fever, dry cough and tiredness. And community leaders ordered similar tactics for managing the spread  — including social distancing,closing some businesses, and wearing masks.

(One apparent difference, in 1918 toilet paper hoarding never caught on.)

In any case, it seems we’re doing it better in 2020. Five weeks into the pandemic in Saskatchewan, we’ve only seen four deaths across the province due to COVID-19.

In 1918, Regina’s first Spanish flu casualty was on Oct. 6. By Nov. 8, 208 people had died of influenza — just in Regina, which had a population of about 30,000 at the time.

Here’s a closer look at Regina’s Spanish flu trends.

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Cleanliness and germs

The consistent COVID-19 mantra has been wash your hands often, don’t touch your face, and keep at least two metres away from other people.

Provincial health commissioner Dr. Maurice Macdonald Seymour had similar advice pertaining to the Spanish flu: “Keep in good health, avoid crowds, and don’t sneeze or cough when anyone is close by …” the Leader reported on Oct. 15, 1918.

Seymour stated in a later article, in that era “droplet infection” was just newly recognized. That is, “the fine droplets thrown out from the mouth in coughing, sneezing, speaking, singing, etc.” Or, what Prime Minister Justin Trudeau might call “speaking moistly.”

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In the fall of 1918, the R.H. Williams and Sons department store ran an almost-daily full-page ad in the Leader. One of those ads included a list of 18 products to serve as “helpful preparations” for the Spanish flu, including “peroxide of hydrogen” (ranging in price from 25 to 65 cents) and “Lysol disinfectant and antiseptic” (ranging from 30 cents to $1).

Masks for protection

On Oct. 1, Seymour had advised that patients wear masks, and people coming into contact with patients wear masks. On Oct. 24, he restated that the use of masks was “imperative among those attending the sick.”

That was the same day barbers across Regina began wearing “flu masks,” recognizing “the danger to the barbers in having to work over persons for so long as 15 minutes without any protection.” This was after Mr. Heisy, a barber from Rouleau, died of influenza.

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On Oct. 25, “Mrs. L.Y. McKinney of 2145 Albert St., was the first person to appear in Regina streets wearing an influenza mask. The mask was soaked in Lysol and was worn as a precautionary measure.”

In the Leader on Oct. 30, R.H. Williams and Sons’ store ad read: “Eminent physicians throughout the country advise all women to wear chiffon veils as a protection against influenza.” The store offered four colours: “maise, blue, sand and black.”

That night, Regina city council’s influenza relief committee directed citizens to wear gauze masks as a preventive measure in closed quarters — but not on the streets.

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“Masks worn on the street prevent the inhalation of fresh air, which is generally recognized as the best germ-fighter in existence,” the Leader wrote.

Likewise, about a month into COVID-19, it was being recommended to wear masks while in public.

Liquor’s healing properties

When Saskatchewan announced its list of essential businesses on March 25, 2020, there were a few comments criticizing the decision to keep liquor stores open.

In 1918, the government in another way deemed alcohol essential — by withdrawing part of the Temperance Act. Before that order-in-council on Oct. 29, alcohol was only legally obtainable at a pharmacy with a doctor’s prescription. With the legislation change, pharmacists could sell up to eight ounces of liquor to a person living within five miles of a store without a doctor’s prescription.

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E.A. Jolly, owner of Jolly’s Drug Stores — which ran ads for eucalyptus oil as the “best thing” to prevent Spanish flu — said this would help meet the “terrific demands” of the virus. With 11 doctors in the city ill at the time, prescriptions were harder to come by.

Jolly — who was pulling 18-hour days during the epidemic — attested on Nov. 3, 1918, that “doctors, many of them, have told me personally that brandy was not only a preventive for influenza, but also a cure.”

He added, “I have no hesitancy … in saying that I could not recommend a better preventive or more certain cure for influenza than brandy.”

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The Leader also cited a “leading druggist,” who “had no hesitation in recommending whiskey as a splendid means of breaking up a cold if taken hot in bed and if the patient kept warm,” although he couldn’t guarantee it as a cure.

In 2020, doctors have not touted alcohol as a cure for COVID-19, but one person on the Leader-Post Facebook deemed it necessary for something else: “Stay locked indoors with your wife and kids and tell me after 14 days if alcohol or pot is essential.”

Hoarding illegal

Toilet paper hoarding didn’t seem to hit Regina circa 1918. According to printed ads — which never screamed “sold out” — toilet paper that fall ranged from 13 cents a roll at its most expensive, to five cents at a bargain.

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Food hoarding was on the radar, however, due to the First World War. And unlike today, it wasn’t simply taboo or inadvisable; it was against the law.

The Canada Food Board regulations implemented in 1918 prohibited hoarding on penalty of imprisonment and fines of $100 to $1,000. In early November, four men within a week had been fined for having excess amounts of flour and sugar in their possession.

“Food hoarding is being made a perilous occupation in Saskatchewan, due to the activity of the provincial police detective bureau, whose operatives are now waging a vigorous campaign against infringers of Canada food board regulations,” the Leader reported on Nov. 5.

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What privacy?

The Leader printed names and addresses of people who died during the Spanish flu epidemic, alongside the place of their death (at home, Regina General, St. Joseph’s, Grey Nuns, Regina jail, etc.). Often, there were brief obituaries.

Communities affected by the epidemic were no secret: On Oct. 11, 1918, the Leader wrote, “Some of the points reporting the disease were: Prelate, Leader, Expanse, Avonlea, Sedley, Wolseley, Assiniboia, Willow Bunch, Bethune and Brownlee.”

A few days later, the names of sick doctors appeared in print.

This is all markedly different from today’s COVID-19 reports. Citing individuals’ privacy rights, the Saskatchewan Health Authority will not name specific communities outside of Regina and Saskatoon as having been affected by the virus — the exception being in cases of mass gatherings, like a snowmobile rally at Christopher Lake.

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Gathering bans

Saskatchewan’s first suspected COVID-19 case was on March 12, 2020, and gathering bans were implemented almost immediately. Schools and city facilities were closed within days. People criticized Saskatchewan’s 2020 leaders for moving too slowly; keep that in mind as you read the following.

Despite the first influenza death on Oct. 6, 1918, doctors agreed “it would be altogether too drastic a step to impede the commercial and social life of the city by closing down all large institutions and gathering places such as churches, schools, theatres, picture palaces and the street railway system.”

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It wasn’t until mid-October — with 12 deaths and 210 cases in Regina to that point — that the city’s medical health officer Dr. Bow implemented so-called “influenza bans” and closed “all places of amusement, including theatres, moving picture theatres, poolrooms, billiard rooms, bowling alleys and dance halls; all public assemblies and public meetings, including churches and Sunday schools.”

The city’s three separate schools closed and were used as field hospitals.

“First closed night sees deserted streets and empty street cars,” the Leader reported on Oct. 18.

Sports were cancelled. Collegiate evening classes were suspended. Regina College voluntarily quarantined. Eventually, non-criminal court proceedings were adjourned and business hours were limited. Restaurants were never ordered to shut.

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Six people died of the flu on Oct. 22, the day public schools were closed — three weeks into the epidemic — in part because several teachers were sick and so many children were being kept home as a precaution.

Social distancing and quarantines

You didn’t hear “flatten the curve” in 1918, but there were orders that sick people stay home. As of Oct. 8, per an order-in-council, anyone with the flu had to isolate for a week, and their house had to be placarded.

But there were “handicaps” to containing the spread, including “the impossibility, under the present system, of enforcing quarantine; (and) the large number of people who are walking around the city on their usual business suffering quite unknowingly from mild cases of influenza, but who are capable of giving infection, which frequently is of a serious nature, to those with whom they come in contact.”

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(The latter point is a concern in 2020, too; to the former point, there are fines today for breaking quarantine.)

On the first Sunday without church, people found other places to gather: “The parks were popular resorts for family parties.”

And, when it came to the war, social distancing was quickly forgotten. On Oct. 22, plans went ahead for a “mass meeting” of canvassers for the Victory Loan to finance the war. When the Armistice was signed on Nov. 11, “Hamilton Street was packed from curb to curb.”

When a train of 120 soldiers returned to Regina on Oct. 11, it was taken directly to the exhibition grounds’ new grandstand for a week of quarantine — but the soldiers were “allowed to receive visitors.”

Watch for Part 2 of History Repeating tomorrow, exploring the Spanish flu’s impacts on entertainment in Regina, and how it compares to the COVID-19 situation.

amartin@postmedia.com