"At the L.H. Shattuck Company, 45.9% of the workers stayed home. At the George A. Gilchrist shipyard 54.3% stayed home. At Freeport Shipbuilding 57% stayed home. At Groton Iron Works 58.3% stayed home. Even in an industry that was crucial to the war effort, absenteeism was high. Fear and terror was akin to the Black Plague. An internal American Red Cross report concluded, “A fear and panic of the influenza, akin to the terror of the Middle Ages regarding the Black Plague, [has] been prevalent in many parts of the country.”"