On Oct. 28, 1918, Atlanta power curtailments were relaxed and theaters returned to normal operating hours. The Atlanta, Lyric, and Grand Theaters reported high attendance, as did the city’s various movie houses. As one reporter put it, after being closed for several weeks, “It seemed that every theatrical performance and every movie was just a little better than it was before the ban, and everybody was in the best of humor.”

November arrived and the number of new influenza cases in Atlanta continued to decline. One newspaper reporter wrote that influenza was no longer an interesting topic of conversation. “There have been enough victims in Atlanta to prevent any of them from having that exclusive feeling,” he wrote, “and yet there have not been enough to make much of a boast in years to come when those now present say reminiscently, ‘Back in 1918 when Spanish influenza was raging….’”

According to the US Census Bureau records, only three American cities – Grand Rapids, Cambridge, and Spokane – had lower death rates for the previous week. Atlanta’s death rate was the lowest in the South. By the end of November, the Census Bureau reported that Atlanta’s was still amongst the mildest in the country.