The "Quarantine's From The Past: Part II - 1948" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Just finished reading a column in the newspaper that is know as "I Know A Story."  Every week the column is written by someone who usually lives close to Lancaster, Pennsylvania or someone whom may have lived nearby and has since moved out of the area.  Today's story was written by Anne Rhodes Brockley and is titled "Remembering a quarantine in 1948."  I suppose that many reading this story today weren't born in 1948 or if they had been, may not remember much about their childhood.  Anne tells about the year that she and her sister were quarantined due to scarlet fever.  She was almost 6 years old and her sister was 7.  When school had ended their mother took both girls, as well as their 8 year old brother, to the circus.  While at the circus, Anne felt ill and after returning home her mother called the doctor.  He made a home visit and diagnosed scarlet fever.  The doctor contacted the authorities as Anne was confined to the house.  Two weeks later her sister also had the dreaded disease.  Their brother was also told to stay in the house for the next six weeks, even though he had not been diagnosed with the disease.  

The photograph their father took
of their front door at 1192 Maple St.
Notice the Scarlet Fever sign.
Click to enlarge.

The quarantine was tough on the three siblings, but was even worse on their mother.  The whining got to be too much so their mother told Anne's brother to get on his bike and ride up and down the alley behind their house.  A neighbor saw him and called the authorities.  A Police officer came and warned their mother, with a wink, to keep him inside.  I assume the patrolman might have had children and knew that six weeks in quarantine is unbearable.  Anne said that her father was an amateur photographer and took a photograph of the sign on the front of their house at 1192 Maple Ave.  Soon after the quarantine, they sold their house and moved into a bigger home.  Probably in case it ever happened again, a larger home would give them more space during a quarantine.  I suspect that scarlet fever wasn't as deadly as COVID-19.  It originally resulted in death to 15-20% of those infected, but since the advent of antibiotic therapy, it is only deadly in about 1% of those infected.  The signs and symptoms included a sore throat, fever, headaches, swollen lymph nodes and a red rash  on the tongue that feels like sandpaper.  I can remember having friends who had scarlet fever and who got to stay home from school for a couple of weeks.  We all envied them, not knowing how serious a disease it could be.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.