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The influenza cases began to be reported in Cleveland on October 5, and up to December 20, 22,703 cases had been recorded. Certificates recording deaths due to influenza alone numbered 2,497, while pneumonia amounted to 833. The epidemic was at its height in the latter half of October and the weather was spoken of as pleasant fall weather. During the week of October 26 the epidemic reached its greatest height, abated in the week ending November 23, increased later, but showed a drop for the week ending December 21.

The epidemic first reached Chicago on September 21, and from that date on it rapidly increased throughout the city for a period of 26 days until October 17, when it reached its maximum both in the number of deaths from influenza and from pneumonia. On that day the total number of deaths from influenza and from pneumonia reported was 2,395. From September 21 until November 16 there were reported 37,921 cases of influenza and 13,109 cases of pneumonia. On September 8 at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station, which is 32 miles north of the city, an extensive outbreak of influenza occurred. This was 13 days before the outbreak in the city of Chicago itself. Camp Grant, located at Rockford, 92 miles northwest of the city, suffered an outbreak on September 21. A suggestion of the likelihood that influenza was prevalent in this country in a mild and unrecognized form in the spring of this year is shown by the fact that numerous local outbreaks of acute respiratory diseases were brought to the attention of the Health Department of Chicago. These occurred especially in large office buildings and in industrial departments. The total number of deaths from influenza and pneumonia during 14 weeks was 51,915. This would indicate that a very great number of cases were not reported to the Bureau of Health until they died or else there must have been a large number of deaths due to lobar pneumonia. One naturally obtains from these figures the impression that the disease was not recognized for a long time, that the pneumonia must have been called lobar pneumonia, and that the actual figures gathered by this city, as well as others, must have been greatly confused at the onset of the epidemic. It is not unlikely that records from many of the army cantonments and naval stations may be considered from the same viewpoint. Weather conditions were considered normal at the height of the epidemic, the weather being dry. There has been a flare-up of influenza recently, but not in sufficient numbers to justify calling it epidemic.