8. Old Halifax Infirmary
1 sound
“We hate to knock a celebrity, but are compelled to report that General Blue, who ought to know, says that while it has become the fashion to call the present outbreak Spanish Influenzaa it is not a new disease but identically the same as that which swept this country in 1899 under the name of influenza.” (See: Crane, Dr. Frank. (1918). The Spanish Influenza. In The Chronicle Herald, 14 October 1918.)
The rumour that the Spanish Influenza was German sabotage was common, but unfounded. The disease more likely was the result of the conditions of trench warfare allowing the flu virus to mutate rapidly. For more, see: J.S. Oxford, et. al., “World War I May Have Allowed the Emergence of the Spanish Influenza,” (The Lancet: Infectious Diseases 2, February 2002).)
--
While the events depicted in this walk are true, and we have endeavoured to represent them as factually as possible, it is important to note that the characters are fictional. As such, small details about their personal lives may not be accurate. These characters have been created from the remembrances of real people, and drawn from the communities present in Halifax in December of 1917.
