Arizona Republic from Phoenix, Arizona • Page 353

11 THE MESA REPUBLIC FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2007 Flu pandemic could shut Mesa down like it did 1918 MESA NEWS It f3 i 7i Franklin School on East Main Street into an emergency hospital that at one point was treating more than 100 patients. On Nov. 19, the Town Ccoun-cil talked about using the crisis as the springboard for opening a permanent municipal hospital, but balked because the city was facing budget problems. The disease ran its course in Mesa by early 1919. According to the historical society, the last known victim was Norman Li-sonbee, who died Jan.

31. He was 9 years old. Damiani said he hopes nothing like this will happen again, but it's his job to look on the dark side. "We have to take the pessimistic approach and be prepared," he said. And so do ordinary citizens.

Damiani said Mesa's emergency managers encourage people to have on hand at least a 72 -hour supply of vital needs such as food, water, medicine and pet food. graves worldwide. The fearsome episode has its own plaque in a new exhibit at the Mesa Historical Museum, 2345 N. Home St. Museum researchers have not been able to arrive at a death toll for Mesa.

The story began hitting the front pages in September 1918. Young soldiers in East Coast military camps began dying in droves and newspapers chronicled the growing dread as the plague marched westward. On Oct. 7, Mesa officials banned public meetings and shut the schools. Restrictions on public activities continued until the epidemic abated several months later.

Meanwhile, the city's small daily newspaper began to carry obituaries of the victims. Among them was Peter John Schaefer, 36, who left behind a wife and three young stepchildren and, being relatively young, was typical of the Spanish flu's victims. Mesa's doctors, some of whom died, were so overwhelmed that the city turned By Gary Nelson GARY. NEI.SON(a)ARI ZONA REPUBLIC. COM New federal regulations would turn Mesa into a virtual ghost town in case of a fullblown global flu epidemic.

Guidelines issued Jan. 31 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would close schools, cancel ball-games, shut movie theaters and enforce quarantines if a worst-case pandemic broke out. Gil Damiani of the Mesa Fire Department, who serves as the city's emergency coordinator, said Mesa began planning for a flu pandemic about a year ago amid escalating worries over a deadly strain of bird flu that so far has mostly affected Asia but has yet to spread widely among humans. "We wanted to see what we could do to keep the city running," Damiani said. Contingency plans include measures as drastic as a ban on all public gatherings, including church services.

Such an order, he said, "would have to come GARY NELSONTHE REPUBLIC Peter John Schaefer died in November 1918 just shy of his 37th birthday. The Spanish flu victim is buried in Mesa City Cemetery. from the city's highest elected official, which would be the mayor." Damiani said the city has no authority over the Mesa Public School District, but the district is included on the city's flu pandemic planning committee. With its huge student population, he said, the schools would present "70,000 opportunities to spread this disease." If such a calamity hit, it wouldn't be the first time. Mesa was brought to its knees in fall 1918 as the town's 3,000 residents faced an influenza pandemic, known as the Spanish flu, that swept untold millions of people to their RcsTnunnrn Accepting Reservationsar 'WMiw i i i I 61 E.

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