In late 1918, the Spanish flu threatened the town of Gunnison, Colorado. ìThe pandemic was infecting hundreds of millions of people in Europe, Africa, Asia and across the United States, overwhelming hospitals and morgues in Boston and Philadelphia before sweeping west, devastating cities, villages and hamlets from Alaska to Texas.îGunnison, a farming and mining town of about 1,300 people back then had two railroad connections to Denver and other populous areas, ìmany badly hit with the flu.î Gunnison declared a ìquarantine against all the world.î It erected barricades, sequestered visitors, arrested violators, closed schools and churches and banned parties and street gatherings, a lockdown that lasted four months.It worked. Gunnison emerged from the pandemicís first two waves ñ- by far the deadliest ó without a single case.ìGunnisonís management of the influenza situation, one hallmarked by the application of protective sequestration, is particularly impressive when one considers that nearly every nearby town and county was severely affected by the pandemic,î according to the University of Michigan Medical School 2006 report for the Pentagonís Defense Threat Reduction Agency. ìThe town of Gunnison was exceptional.îThe Guardian, March 1By Rory Carroll
