https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030431/1918-10-21/ed-1/seq-3/#date1=1918&sort=date&date2=1918&words=Influenza+INFLUENZA&language=&sequence=0&lccn=&index=16&state=&rows=20&ortext=&proxtext=influenza&year=&phrasetext=&andtext=&proxValue=&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=504

The New York Telephone Company demands all personal calls be stopped, and says it is imperative that the public only make emergency calls. Their operating force is too sick with spanish flu. More than 67,000 cases of influenza have been reported since the beginning of the outbreak, there were more than 1400 deaths in New York over the weekend.

Source: “Telephone Calling Must be Restricted,” The Sun, New York, New York, October 21, 1918.