Lessons from the past: How the deadly second wave of the 1918 ‘Spanish flu’ caught Dallas and the U.S. by surprise

The front pages of The Dallas Morning News were dominated by news of American troops pouring into Europe for what would come to be known as World War I.

But that would quickly change. By the end of September, a second wave of the flu, far deadlier, would sweep across the country, hitting Dallas and other large cities hard.

When health experts worry about the course of the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, they often look back at the second wave of the 1918 pandemic, between September and November, when influenza cases overwhelmed hospitals and medical staffs across the country and the dead piled up faster than they could be buried.