On Oct. 1, 1918, Baltimore city Health Commissioner Dr. John Blake asked streetcars and theaters to increase ventilation and for patrons to use handkerchiefs when coughing and sneezing. By October 6, there were already so many residents sick with influenza that the city’s hospitals were unable to accept new patients.

The school board decided to take unilateral action and to close all public schools until further notice, over Blake’s strenuous objection. Despite Blake’s hesitancy to implement a closure order, Baltimore’s excess death rate for the epidemic period was only 559 per 100,000, better than that of many of its East Coast counterparts.