If Samuel Crumbine were alive today, he’d recognize the precautions that Kansans are taking to limit COVID-19.
There’s little doubt he would approve of the closing of schools, theaters and restaurants.
He would worry about Kansas hospitals and wonder if their staffs are prepared for a crisis.
But mostly, he’d be determining how, once again, the government could persuade the public to take seriously the threat of a global pandemic.
It was 102 years ago that Crumbine, a public health reformer and executive officer of the Kansas State Board of Health faced down a similar crisis — the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic.