091322 140 year history - A4 landscape v1 digital - Flipbook - Page 49
1917
Visitors Arriving
It is a sunny afternoon and visitors are
making their way to the wards, but there
were times when the hospital was closed
to visitors. In 1915, for example, they were
not allowed for two months because of an
outbreak of diphtheria, scarlet fever and
measles amongst patients. And during the
1919 ‘pneumonic influenza’ pandemic, only
visitors to seriously ill patients were allowed.
During those influenza months, admissions
to the hospital were restricted, all staff had
to wear masks, and outpatients had to wait
for their consultations in the open air and
remain three feet (about a metre) away from
each other.
Photographer Clarence Hains; Image courtesy of the School of
Medicine Heritage Collection, University of Sydney
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