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The first reaction of the authorities was, for
many of the most important ones, just flat-out denial.
This was simply too large an event for them
to deal with, not only in policy, but to even to
think about constructively. So,the chief health
officer of New York, a man named Royal Copeland, denied
it when it became undeniable. He said it wasn't any
great danger. He talked a good game throughout the entire,
epidemic and there were other people like him right across
the United States. It's easy to blame these people in retrospect,
but, of course, we have the advantage of hindsight.
This was simply too big for them to take in as fast as
they needed to take it in. If it had been a slow-moving
epidemic, maybe they would have had a month, two months to realize,
yeah, it really is happening out there. Instead, down the telegraph
wires would come these almost unbelievable stories. If they were
believable you're supposed to do something, if they were unbelievable,
you didn't have to do anything. A lot of health officers
were, and a lot of politicians to whom the health officers would
have to con, people they'd have to convince,
preferred not to face it.
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