London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Barking 1919
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Barking]
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Barking.
| 1916. | Deaths. | 1917. | Deaths. | 1918. | Deaths | 1919. | Deaths | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 51 | - | 39 | - | 3 | - | 1 | - |
| February | 45 | - | 60 | 2 | 3 | - | 1 | - |
| March | 64 | — | 293 | 11 | 13 | — | 5 | — |
| April | 66 | — | 317 | 32 | 33 | — | 24 | 2 |
| May | 50 | — | 162 | 10 | 235 | 6 | 34 | 2 |
| June | 19 | — | 47 | 5 | 189 | 7 | 16 | — |
| July | 8 | — | 17 | 1 | 47 | 1 | 14 | — |
| August | 8 | — | 10 | 1 | 13 | — | 20 | — |
| September | 7 | — | 3 | 1 | — | — | 6 | — |
| October | 2 | — | 3 | — | 3 | — | 28 | — |
| November | 3 | — | 9 | — | 3 | — | 78 | — |
| December | 8 | 1 | 9 | - | 2 | 142 | ||
| Totals | 331 | 1 | 969 | 63 | 544 | 14 | 369 | 4 |
Jan.—Oct., Oct.—Oct., Nov., 1917 Jan.—Sept.,
1916. 1916-1917. Dec., 1918. 1919
Standard deviation 1.79+ —.05 1.40 + —0.2 1.2 + —.02 1.65 + —05.
(months)
Standard deviation — 1.184 + — 100 .610 + — .11
(deaths)
From investigation of the curve'from 1917, it is found that
B2 = 4.2 and B2 = 4.73, and that F=-.42, hence the curve is
markedly skew, that is, the rise is steeper than the fall. A curve
that is to be expected from a heterogenious population, on one
which consists of groups of varying size. (The groups in a civil
population are the families.) It has been shewn that density of the
population is a factor in the rate of spread, hence the chance of
infection in the family, should one member become infected, is
greater than the chance of an individual member receiving infection
from general sources. The ratio can be expressed as the
square of the number of the unit. Thus, a family of two might
each derive infection from general sources, and then infect each