The Tribal Decline: Fort Hall Reservation and the Influenza Pandemic, 1918–1920

COVID-19 was not the first global pandemic to strike Native American reservations. The story of the 1918–1920 global influenza pandemic on the Fort Hall Reservation and how the Office of Indian Affairs responded to the pandemic is very similar to what occurred during the 2020 pandemic. In 1918, the Shoshone-Bannock communities of Fort Hall were struggling with the continued impacts of federal assimilation policies regarding allotment, housing, education, and changes in medical and health care needs, such as vaccinations and quarantines. Limited medical services to outlying Native family camps resulted in severe impacts as infections and death rates increased. Lessons can be gleaned from the governmental responses to both the COVID-19 and 1918 Influenza pandemics to help plan for future pandemics on Native American reservations.