On Sept. 26, 1918, Baltimore city Health Commissioner Dr. John Blake dismissed the circulating influenza as not being exceptional. Likewise, the chief of the communicable diseases bureau of the Maryland Board of Health, Dr. C. Hampson Jones, said that the situation around Baltimore was not alarming. Unfortunately, it soon would be.

Several days later, on September 29, the health department admitted that influenza cases were increasing in the city, but officials were unable to estimate the actual numbers since influenza was not yet a reportable disease in Baltimore.

The death rate may have been low thus far, but the number of new cases was quickly overwhelming Baltimore’s hospitals, nurses, and physicians.