The Mitchell Contagion Ward at Memorial Hospital in New London had been in mothballs for a while, but when workmen arrived to get the plumbing and heating working, it was obvious something was up.
Local health officials, acting cautiously, decided to put the building back in operation because they feared Spanish influenza might strike the city. That s the disease history remembers with dread as the 1918 flu.
But this wasn t 1918. It was 1920.
A year into the coronavirus pandemic, we hope we re not in a similar place. With case numbers trending lower and vaccinations starting to make a difference, it s tempting to hope normal times are just around the corner. But to get an idea of what a less-than-ideal transition could be like, it s worth a look at what happened as the last pandemic of this scale receded.