Two programs to watch and read here…
SUMMARY:Explore the dark and often overlooked history of smallpox blankets in colonial America. This video uncovers how European settlers and colonial powers used disease as a weapon against Indigenous peoples, the devastating consequences it had on communities, and the myths vs. facts surrounding this chilling chapter of history.
LINK:https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=564KKf-Jc1g&pp=ygUmc21hbGwgcG94IGJsYW5rZXRzLiBlY2hvZXMgIG9mIEFtZXJpY2E%3D&
Investigating the Smallpox Blanket Controversy
Alicea Hibbard, MHA
SUMMARY:“In Indian Country, it is an accepted fact that white settlers distributed items, such as blankets contaminated with smallpox and other infectious diseases, aiming to reduce the population of Native people resisting their Manifest Destiny. These accounts have left a legacy of trauma and distrust in Native communities that persist to this day. It comes as quite a surprise to Indigenous people to learn that a controversy exists regarding the veracity of these events. This article aims to answer some of the lingering questions while shedding light on the controversy.“
LINK:https://asm.org/articles/2023/november/investigating-the-smallpox-blanket-controversySide-Comment:
It being Jan 7, 2026 the hey day of the 'super-flu' occurring even while other viruses continue to circulate, hospitals being burdened and the flu being the highest ever recorded since the CDC began keeping records in 1997, I can't help but think about hospital waiting rooms and other hospital and health care facilities and the maskless people infecting one another...
...all I can think of is if a blanket is capable of
initially infecting somebody with an airborne illness or disease, then obviously and surely maskless people can and will infect one another at the healthcare facility.
.
