Norovirus and the flu

I've been suffering for the past few days with what I assume to be norovirus, sometimes called the stomach flu. As I understand it, norovirus is a completely separate disease from the regular flu. The main symptoms are vomiting, diarrhea, and general weakness. However, you don't usually run a fever with norovirus as you do with the regular flu or at least not as much, and you tend to get over it quite a bit quicker. Even though the two maladies are unrelated, being sick with the stomach flu, got me to thinking about the regular flu, and I did a little combing through newspapers during the time of the great flu epidemic of 1918-1919. I've already written about this pandemic a couple of years ago; so I won't repeat the basic history of the outbreak. However, I wanted to share a couple of interesting items I found in Springfield newspapers pertaining to the flu epidemic.
By February 1919, the great flu epidemic was beginning to subside, but concern over the disease was still very much on people's minds. Scientists and medical professionals were trying to come up with ways to prevent the disease or lessen its effects, and even editorial observers sometimes offered their opinions as to how best to control the disease. For instance, the Wichita Beacon published a list of tips on how to prevent or minimize the flu, and the Springfield Republican reprinted the article. The list was really just a list of tips for maintaining overall health, since the Beacon prefaced the list with the observation that people who were in overall good health tended to be less susceptible to the flu than those who were already in a weakened condition. The newspaper advised:
"Let us sleep with the windows open."
"Drink a glass of water for every waking hour."
"Eat less of concentrated foods and more of fruits and vegetables, and keep on the hungry side of our appetites."
"Let us walk a part way to and from work, and keep in the open on Sundays."
"Practice deep breathing in the open."
"Do not get frightened at the first symptoms.... The fear of the disease weakens the resistance."
"Do not get angry nor entertain resentments toward anyone, for anger and hate create poisonous toxins in the body."
Some of these bits of advice, the author admitted, might be foolish, but then again, he reminded readers, scientists often conducted experiments on "the vaguest possible theory."
Some of these tips many health professionals would probably still endorse today, such as eating fruits and vegetables. Others maybe not so much, like sleeping with the windows open.
Even a year later, in February 1920, the flu was still very much a public concern, in Springfield as well as throughout the rest of the country. Early that month a group of university student leaders in Springfield adopted a resolution calling upon the city to close all schools, churches, and places of amusement until the danger of another flu epidemic had passed.