Page 30 - Bulletin 23- 2020

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the presidency of the Mayoress. Voluntary aid was called for, and as the business of the town
was disorganised and became almost at a standstill the healthy portions of the population
flocked to render what help they could. The railwaymen, tramwaymen and post office officials
were attacked in great numbers, so that transport was practically suspended. Depots were
opened for the distribution of food to the sufferers for it was found that in many households,
though the people were not in indigent circumstances, the occupants were actually starving
through there being no person sufficiently well to buy and bring food to them as the ordinary
methods of food distribution were no longer available by reason of the extent of the disease
amongst the personnel of the tradesmen. Ultimately 45 of such depots were established. Further
no medical or nursing attendance was obtainable in very many instances. The few remaining
medical practitioners were unable to cope with the calls made upon them, any that could
possibly be spared in ordinary times having accepted war services. To economise the work of
the small number remaining the City was divided into districts, and a medical practitioner
assigned to each. A small number of retired practitioners, and professors in the medical school
came forward to help. The medical students at the Cape Town University likewise volunteered
their services. But these districts could not be as numerous as the depots because of the dearth
of medical men. If a medical man could have been attached to each depot, the organisation
would have been perfected. There was a deficiency of trained nurses, a large number being
engaged on war services. Advertisements were issued for voluntary aid nurses, and as many as
were likely to be serviceable and came forward were engaged. Districts were assigned to these
as far as was possible under the stress of the circumstances, and after the first week this was
better organised. Most of the voluntary aid assistants were placed under the controllers of the
large number of depots which had been established all over the city. Owners of motor-cars
freely lent their cars for the distribution of food and medical comforts. At the beginning of our
operations the greatest difficulty was found in accommodating the corpses prior to burial, the
provision of coffins and the digging of graves. The Morgue after a few days could not
accommodate any more, so that a disused Municipal depot on Woodstock Beach was opened
for the purpose where 538 corpses were housed. Coffins were manufactured at the Corporation
and Railway workshops. The staffs of the undertakers and gravediggers were depleted by the
illness amongst them. The number of coffins supplied gratuitously by the Committee was 2009.
The military supplied a number of Nigerian natives to assist in the burials, but many dead had
to be buried in trenches.
The disease must have been in existence since the middle of September but it was not
until the third week of October that the virulence was clearly manifested. The cases that I saw
in the hospitals during the first week of our preventive efforts were characterized by extensive
haemorrhages from the nose and lungs, and in some cases from the gums in addition, with rapid
death in these instances, except those with epistaxis alone where recovery took place in many
instances.
The disease subsided rapidly, so that the arrangement with the medical men which
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commenced on October 11 ceased on October 21 , except in a few districts in the congested
part of the City and in these it was stopped on October 26 .
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The City Hospital was almost emptied of its ordinary patients, and in addition to the
accommodation, 12 marquees were erected for the reception of about 100 coloured females.
Some of the nurses were down with the disease, and the extra staff required was obtained from