Libby schools closed 100 years ago this week for a different illness

History came close to repeating itself on schedule last week.

Very nearly a century to the day that an epidemic canceled classes in Libby, administrators shut down the city’s elementary school out of concern the coronavirus was spreading inside the building.

Present-day educators canceled school Oct. 14 after learning the virus, which can lead to COVID-19, had spread between staff members, said Superintendent Ron Goodman. As employees underwent testing last week, the school received a deep clean, officials said.

Even with the scrubbing, Goodman said the odds of the school reopening within the next two weeks seemed unlikely. Given the expected quarantines among staff members, he predicted the district would lack the manpower to teach in-person classes in the immediate future.

In October 1920, officials faced a similar crisis. Just two years after the Spanish influenza swept through Libby and forced schools closed for several weeks, an epidemic of scarlet fever threatened the community.

As reported in the Oct. 22 edition of The Western News, Libby schools were shut down by order of Public Health Officer Dr. J.H. Morrison. An outbreak of scarlet fever, a bacterial illness that develops in some patients suffering from strep throat, had left the doctor worried.

The illness “while not yet in virulent form, has spread until serious measures were deemed necessary” by the local health officer, the newspaper reported.

Morrison went further than closing the schools. He also ordered all children to remain home. The penalty for disobedience? Arrest, prosecution and possibly a fine.

According to the newspaper, Morrison directed the chief of police and two Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office deputies to apprehend any and all children away from home “without a special permit from the health officer.”

Police Chief Forrest Delapp took out an advertisement in The Western News encouraging parents to cooperate with the health officer. He wanted the order “obeyed without inflicting unnecessary hardship upon any family by prosecution and fine.”

Scarlet fever was a serious matter in the 1920s. During those early decades and in the preceding century, the illness was a leading cause of death in children. Although the rise of antibiotics — and a potential change in the bacteria — led to a decrease in cases in the years since, experts have seen an uptick in scarlet fever cases in recent years, according to the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security’s “Outbreak Observatory.”

At the time, the illness was known for its quick progression. Scarlet fever could move from the onset of symptoms to death among children in as little as 48 hours in the 19th century.

How did the illness get so bad in Libby as to necessitate the shutdown of schools? In a twist that some readers may find unsurprising, Morrison blamed it on residents not following proper precautions. Parents sent their sick children to school or failed to report cases of the illness in their families, The Western News reported.

An Oct. 22 article quoted Morrison as saying “Some people in Libby have no consideration for the health of others.”

But by Oct. 29, the scarlet fever epidemic was under control. Under a headline reading “situation greatly improved,” The Western News reported that most — if not all — children had obeyed the order to stay home.

“Never before in Libby’s history have the children … stayed home and off the streets as they have during the past week,” the article read.

Officials expected the health officer to lift the order and end the school closure by the following week. About 20 families experience a case of the illness during the short-lived epidemic, and most patients suffered only a mild bout with scarlet fever.

By the Nov. 5, 1920 edition, “the scarlet fever scare has vanished,” the newspaper reported. Morrison was busy fumigating the homes of those affected, classes had resumed and “everything else is back to normal again.”