On Sept. 25, 1918, Boston’s health commissioner Dr. William C. Woodward announced that all Boston public schools were closed indefinitely.

The next day, September 26, Woodward issued a closure order, shutting the doors of Boston’s theaters, movie houses, and dance halls, and prohibiting public gatherings until at least 7:00 am on October 7. The State Board of Health did not think that church closures were warranted.

At that same time, thirty-two nurses from Brigham Hospital were out sick with influenza themselves, unable to care for patients. The Homeopathic Hospital refused admittance to some 400 influenza patients.