In late September 1957, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced that it was canceling its October general conference because of the Asian flu. It canceled not only the conference general sessions but also all related meetings: “the Relief Society conference, the dedication of the Aaronic Priesthood memorial, the missionary reunions and the agricultural meeting.” Church authorities arrived at this decision after consulting with “all public agencies,” including soliciting an “opinion” from the Utah State Department of Health. The resulting opinion was quoted in part by an article in the Church News, an official church publication:
No exact prediction can be made whether conference would be disrupted with a high attack rate of Asian flu, but in the interest of prevention of disease, it is the considered opinion of the health department that there exists the possibility that an excess incidents [sic] of Asian flu might...
