Public Health Alert: Smallpox in Snohomish and Howe Sound
Health officials attempt to contain outbreaks of smallpox, closing schools and churches to curb the spread of the disease.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
There are three cases of smallpox in Snohomish, but the situation regarding the disease is not so serious as to cause any alarm. Health Officer McCready states that the three patients have been removed to a house about a mile from town and are being properly cared for. The public schools have been closed and religious services will not be held at the churches until further notice. At Howe Sound, ten persons in the Gibson family are down with the terrible disease except the old man. Additional guards were placed about the premises to warn people away, and sister Frances and another nurse from Vancouver went up to Howe Sound today to nurse the family.
“The public schools have been closed and religious services will not be held at the churches until further notice.”
This reflects the stark reality of public health management in 1892, where quarantine and isolation were the primary tools available to prevent epidemics in isolated communities.
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