I offer a #pandemic timeline for UNC & Chapel Hill - let's go back to 1918 to see what's possibly relevant for today: First weeks of Oct 1918 pandemic hits NC, spreading very quickly across the state. /1

Orange Co forms Board of Health, which had not existed, & declares restrictions on congregating, although not to extent we are seeing today, nor was it enforceable. UNC goes into a “quarantine” & some events are altered, but campus & its operations do not entirely shut down. /2

October 23rd Tar Heel announces the campus Y is staying active during quarantine, w “regular Sat evening programs.” Furthermore, “50 or 60 men” responded to the call for football training on campus, and “others just recovering from attacks of influenza are expected out soon.” /3

Oct 7th UNC parent writes President Graham asking them to notify the family if their child gets influenza & signs "Trusting that you may not have an epidemic of influenza." /4

Oct 19 President Graham writes concerned parent that those in the infirmary with influenza are "virtually well" & punts to the Registrar T.J. Wilson saying that he can speak to whether the pandemic will reach a point of concern. /5

October 26, 1918 President Edward K. Graham dies from influenza. October 30, 1918 Three football games confirmed: Nov 2 versus Wake Forest in Chapel Hill, Nov 9 at Washington and Lee, and Nov 16 versus Davidson in Chapel Hill. /6

Reports are that WWI Student Army Training Corp students & other students bathe daily at the gym (Bynum Hall) “eighteen hundred three minute baths are given every week.” Burial services for Edward Kidder Graham took place with *hundreds in attendance.* /7

December 8, 1918 funeral services for Dr. Edward Graham, presided over by Professor M.H. Stacy, held in Gerrard Hall, with *numerous speakers and a full house.* /8

OK how about spring semester 1919? January 8th Joking posts in the Tar Heel thank fellow students for “rescuing the fraternity’s property” & thank the town fire department “for their assistance,” indicating that the fraternities had large parties that night. /9

January 15th Students back on campus in anticipation for start of spring semester. At least 30 seniors met to prepare for senior events, fraternities initiated new members. January 21, 1919 Interim University President and Professor Marvin Hendrix Stacy dies from influenza. /10

January 22nd Burial services in Chapel Hill for Stacy w “hundreds in attendance,” incl most of the student body & state officials, + Stacy’s relatives. January 24th Tar Heel reports that Dr. Leavitt recovers from his “slight attack” of influenza & resumes teaching classes. /11

Chapel Hill & UNC were very different in 1918, yes, & coronavirus is not influenza, *however* it is very, um interesting, to see how campus didn't close or even delay the semester in 1918-19, *even with* two UNC Presidents dying. I think there are some lessons learned here. /12