By Warren D. Huse

For The Laconia Daily Sun

LACONIA — The world, the nation and Laconia underwent an attack by a virus, in 1918, in many ways similar to the currently unfolding COVID-19 pandemic.

Looking back from the perspective of a little more than a century — 102 years to be precise — this small city had emerged relatively unscathed.

On the other hand, between 125 and 150 Laconians (including residents and those in military service) died from the disease in the space of about four months.

These from a city with a population of roughly 10,800 at the time.

(And, of course, the impact locally would be seen larger if casualties from neighboring Gilford, Belmont, Meredith and other towns were added in.)

Nationally, the first indications of what came to be called the H1N1 flu virus began in far-away Kansas, in March 1918, when flu-like symptoms were reported in Camp Funston at Fort Riley.

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