Smallpox Outbreak Ignored at Snohomish Hospital
A health officer faces public backlash for failing to quarantine a hospital where a county pauper contracted smallpox.
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It was learned today that smallpox still exists in Snohomish. A man named Cummings, who is a county charge, is down with the disease at the Sisters' hospital, where the county paupers are now being kept. He is supposed to have contracted the disease from the room in the hospital occupied a few weeks ago by a female smallpox patient. Much indignation is expressed at Health Officer McCready's course in the matter. The Sisters hospital is located on the most frequented street in the residence portion of the town, and although Cummings broke out with the disease several days ago the hospital has not been quarantined, and the inmates have been permitted the freedom of the town. The health officer's sole object seems to be to keep the actual state of affairs from the knowledge of the public. His actions seem to be the more severely criticized because of the fact that when the disease was at its height here and he appeared lax in the discharge of his duty, a public meeting was held and resolutions passed assuring the health officer that public sentiment would uphold stringent quarantine regulations.
“The health officer's sole object seems to be to keep the actual state of affairs from the knowledge of the public.”
Public health transparency remains a flashpoint in civic governance. The tension between managing economic perception and protecting community safety echoes the debates over public health mandates in recent years.
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