WHOOPING COUGH... (quarantine placard)

"Children---except those of this household--with the Health Officer's Permit---must not enter or leave these premises." Coated cardstock placard, 7 x 10 inches. Creasing to right side and water spot in the left margin and upper right corner, overall a VG+ example in an unusual color (typically found in yellow and red). Verso blank. The only date printed references the 1923 law, but this example is likely from the 1930s, when Herman Lang was a Health Officer in Western Pennsylvania. Pertussis was a major cause of childhood mortality, and like other quarantine placards for Smallpox and Yellow Fever, they were required to be displayed outside houses with known cases of the diseases. The steep fine, up to $100, speaks to the seriousness of needing to prevent its spread. A vaccine was initially developed in 1931; and the DPT vaccine, which addresses diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus, was introduced and mandated in some locations during the 1940s.