A scarlet fever scare hit Worth County in November 1905 after a child was diagnosed with the disease. Worth County had its own health officer back then with the authority to quarantine people. The November 23rd, 1905 Worth County Times had the following report:
The announcement by the properly constituted health officer that a little daughter of David Witmer has a genuine case of scarlet fever gave the gossipers a chance to air themselves, and they availed themselves of the opportunity. All sorts of rumors filled the air and at least a dozen of cases were reported. Dr. T.J. Smith, who is the legal health officer, stated to us that only one genuine case of scarlet fever has appeared in town, and that is the little Witmer girl. The other Witmer children have been removed to another house by themselves and a strict quarantine has been established over the Witmer home, thus removing all possibility of danger to the public.
However, Dr. Smith says there are a number of cases that do not possess all the symptoms of real scarlet fever, but manifest the disease in a mild form. He is also of the opinion that there may be cases which are being kept under cover through fear of quarantine.
Therein lies the danger of a general spread of the disease. All suspected cases should be promptly reported to Dr. Smith. Failure to do so makes the guilty ones liable under the law. In this connection, we desire to state that the county court and Dr. T.J. Smith constitute the Board of Health and have full power to establish and maintain quarantine regulations.
Whenever Dr. Smith is satisfied that a contagious disease has made its appearance, he has full power to establish quarantine and no person has a right to interfere with his plan. Interference in many manner whatsoever makes the offending individual liable to arrest and a fine.
We note that today, privacy laws prohibit health authorities or doctors from disclosing a person’s medical situation without their consent.
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