236 –2,720

lornajarrettblanchard January 1, 1949

–2,720-2,732 Blanchard tally based on State breakouts below. (Choose to use US PHS number.)

–2,720 Bryant. Handbook of Death…Dying. 2003, 231.

–2,720 Rosenberg and Peck. “Megadeaths: Individual Reactions…” 2003, pp. 223-232.^[1]

–2,720 U.S. PHS. Vital Statistics of the United States 1949, Part II…Mortality Data… p. 202.

Jan Feb Mar Apr May June July Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

57 31 27 20 37 94 378 867 588 351 179 91

(“Table 21. Deaths From 64…Causes, by Month: [US] and Each State, 1949.” p. 202.)

— 12 AL “Table 21. Deaths From 64…Causes, by Month: [US] and Each State, 1949.” p. 203.

— 15 AZ “Table 21. Deaths From 64…Causes, by Month: [US] and Each State, 1949.” p. 204.

— 50 AR “Table 21. Deaths From 64…Causes, by Month: [US] and Each State, 1949.” p. 205.

–136 CA “Table 21. Deaths From 64…Causes, by Month: [US] and Each State, 1949.” p. 206.

— 36 CO “Table 21. Deaths From 64…Causes, by Month: [US] and Each State, 1949.” p. 207.

— 31 CT “Table 21. Deaths From 64…Causes, by Month: [US] and Each State, 1949.” p. 208.

— 1 DE “Table 21. Deaths From 64…Causes, by Month: [US] and Each State, 1949.” p. 209.

— 4 DC “Table 21. Deaths From 64…Causes, by Month: [US] and Each State, 1949.” p. 210.

— 13 FL “Table 21. Deaths From 64…Causes, by Month: [US] and Each State, 1949.” p. 211.

— 11 GA “Table 21. Deaths From 64…Causes, by Month: [US] and Each State, 1949.” p. 212.

— 15 ID “Table 21. Deaths From 64…Causes, by Month: [US] and Each State, 1949.” p. 213.

–246 IL “Table 21. Deaths From 64…Causes, by Month: [US] and Each State, 1949.” p. 214.

–116 IN “Table 21. Deaths From 64…Causes, by Month: [US] and Each State, 1949.” p. 215.

— 86 IA “Table 21. Deaths From 64…Causes, by Month: [US] and Each State, 1949.” p. 216.

–90 “ Mason City Globe-Gazette. “Iowa’s Polio Attack Worst in Midwest.” 8-29-1952, p. 1.

— 62 KS “Table 21. Deaths From 64…Causes, by Month: [US] and Each State, 1949.” p. 217.

— 54 KY “Table 21. Deaths From 64…Causes, by Month: [US] and Each State, 1949.” p. 218.

— 6 LA “Table 21. Deaths From 64…Causes, by Month: [US] and Each State, 1949.” p. 219.

— 10 ME “Table 21. Deaths From 64…Causes, by Month: [US] and Each State, 1949.” p. 220.

— 13 MD “Table 21. Deaths From 64…Causes, by Month: [US] and Each State, 1949.” p. 221.

— 53 MA “Table 21. Deaths From 64…Causes, by Month: [US] and Each State, 1949.” p. 222.

–210 MI “Table 21. Deaths From 64…Causes, by Month: [US] and Each State, 1949.” p. 223.

–114 MN “Table 21. Deaths From 64…Causes, by Month: [US] and Each State, 1949.” p. 224.

— 10 MS “Table 21. Deaths From 64…Causes, by Month: [US] and Each State, 1949.” p. 225.

–129 MO “Table 21. Deaths From 64…Causes, by Month: [US] and Each State, 1949.” p. 226.

–133 “ Mason City Globe-Gazette IA. “Iowa’s Polio…Worst in Midwest.” 8-29-1952, p. 1.

— 13 MT “Table 21. Deaths From 64…Causes, by Month: [US] and Each State, 1949.” p. 227.

— 49 NE “Table 21. Deaths From 64…Causes, by Month: [US] and Each State, 1949.” p. 228.

— 2 NV “Table 21. Deaths From 64…Causes, by Month: [US] and Each State, 1949.” p. 229.

— 9 NH “Table 21. Deaths From 64…Causes, by Month: [US] and Each State, 1949.” p. 230.

–180 NJ “Table 21. Deaths From 64…Causes, by Month: [US] and Each State, 1949.” p. 231.

— 19 NM “Table 21. Deaths From 64…Causes, by Month: [US] and Each State, 1949.” p. 232.

–320 NY “Table 21. Deaths From 64…Causes, by Month: [US] and Each State, 1949.” p. 233.

— 12 NC “Table 21. Deaths From 64…Causes, by Month: [US] and Each State, 1949.” p. 234.

— 19 ND “Table 21. Deaths From 64…Causes, by Month: [US] and Each State, 1949.” p. 235.

–23 “ Tweton. “North Dakota and the Polio Killer Virus. North Dakota Studies. Oct 1965.

–102 OH “Table 21. Deaths From 64…Causes, by Month: [US] and Each State, 1949.” p. 236.

–109 OK “Table 21. Deaths From 64…Causes, by Month: [US] and Each State, 1949.” p. 237.

— 23 OR “Table 21. Deaths From 64…Causes, by Month: [US] and Each State, 1949.” p. 238.

— 77 PA “Table 21. Deaths From 64…Causes, by Month: [US] and Each State, 1949.” p. 239.

— 1 RI “Table 21. Deaths From 64…Causes, by Month: [US] and Each State, 1949.” p. 240.

— 9 SC “Table 21. Deaths From 64…Causes, by Month: [US] and Each State, 1949.” p. 241.

— 28 SD “Table 21. Deaths From 64…Causes, by Month: [US] and Each State, 1949.” p. 242.

— 33 TN “Table 21. Deaths From 64…Causes, by Month: [US] and Each State, 1949.” p. 243.

–183 TX “Table 21. Deaths From 64…Causes, by Month: [US] and Each State, 1949.” p. 244.

“ — 28 San Angelo, May 20–late Aug. Oshinsky 2005, 4.

— 9 UT “Table 21. Deaths From 64…Causes, by Month: [US] and Each State, 1949.” p. 245.

— 5 VE “Table 21. Deaths From 64…Causes, by Month: [US] and Each State, 1949.” p. 246.

— 17 VA “Table 21. Deaths From 64…Causes, by Month: [US] and Each State, 1949.” p. 247.

— 35 WA “Table 21. Deaths From 64…Causes, by Month: [US] and Each State, 1949.” p. 248.

— 15 WV “Table 21. Deaths From 64…Causes, by Month: [US] and Each State, 1949.” p. 249.

— 73 WI “Table 21. Deaths From 64…Causes, by Month: [US] and Each State, 1949.” p. 250.

— 10 WY “Table 21. Deaths From 64…Causes, by Month: [US] and Each State, 1949.” p. 251.

Narrative Information

North Dakota

Tweton: “In 1949 national cases reached an all-time high: 42,000—one for each 3,775 people. Life magazine labeled polio the nation’s leading death threat, calling it “sudden,” “capricious,” and “uncontrollable.” In North Dakota of the 451 cases, 23 died. Polio here attacked about one in 5,000 people, less than the national average.” (Tweton, Dr. D. Jerome. “North Dakota and the Polio Killer Virus: An Investigative Report.” Bismarck, ND, North Dakota Studies. Oct 1965.)

Texas

“On May 20…the newspaper reported that a local child had come down with poliomyelitis. San Angelo had endured minor outbreaks before. The disease touched down in the late spring, like hailstorms and tornadoes, but had never really spread. There was mild concern, nothing more. Within days, concern had turned to alarm. Parents began arriving at Shannon Memorial Hospital with ‘feverish, aching youngsters in their arms.’ Twenty-five polio cases were confirmed by the medical staff, and the death toll mounted….

“Dr R. E. Elvins, the city health officer, told people what they already knew: polio had ‘topped epidemic proportions’….In early June, with the temperature nudging 100 and the polio count at sixty-one, the city council voted to close all indoor meeting places for a week. ‘Theater marquees went dark in San Angelo Thursday night,’ said the Standard-Times. ‘There were no youngsters splashing in the municipal swimming pool during the day. No San Angelo churches will meet Sunday.’ The lockdown was soon complete. Bars and bowling alleys shut their doors….

“The epidemic peaked in July. Hospital admissions dropped steadily. By late August it was over…. San Angelo saw 420 cases…of whom 84 were permanently paralyzed and 28 died. It was one of the most severe polio outbreaks ever recorded.” (Oshinsky 2005, 1-4)

Sources

Bryant, Clifton D. (Ed.). Handbook of Death & Dying. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2003. Google preview accessed at: http://books.google.com/books?id=3z9EpgisKOgC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_atb#v=onepage&q&f=true

Mason City Globe-Gazette, IA. “Iowa’s Polio Attack Worst in Midwest.” 8-29-1952, 1. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=100490607

Oshinsky, David M. Polio: An American Story. Oxford University Press, 2005.

Rosenberg, Jerome, and Dennis L. Peck. “Megadeaths: Individual Reactions and Social Responses to Massive Loss of Life.” Pp. 223-232 in Bryant, Clifton D. (Ed.). Handbook of Death & Dying. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2003. Partially digitized by Google at: http://books.google.com/books?id=3z9EpgisKOgC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_atb#v=onepage&q&f=true

Tweton, Dr. D. Jerome. “North Dakota and the Polio Killer Virus: An Investigative Report. Bismarck, ND, North Dakota Studies. Oct 1965. Accessed at: http://www.ndstudies.org/articles/north_dakota_and_the_polio_killer_virus_an_investigative_report

United States Public Health Service. Vital Statistics of the United States 1949, Part II, Natality and Mortality Data for the United States Tabulated by Place of Residence. Washington, GPO, 1951. Google digitized at: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/vsus/VSUS_1949_2.pdf

[1] Rosenberg, Jerome, and Dennis L. Peck. “Megadeaths: Individual Reactions and Social Responses to Massive Loss of Life.” Pp. 223-232 in Bryant, Clifton D. (Ed.). Handbook of Death & Dying. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2003.