Category: spanish flu

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Here are the ‘Do’s and Don’t’s’ From the 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic

We’ve been here before as far as pandemics go—exactly 100 years ago. But have we learned anything since then?

From 1918 to early 1920, the world was held captive by a virus known as H1N1, or the Spanish Flu. Like COVID-19, it spread across the globe within a matter of months. When it was all said and done, 500 million people—about a third of the world’s population—had been infected, and approximately 50 million people died.

COVID-19 is a different virus, but the story of its spread is quite similar; people even had the same arguments about wearing masks and social distancing that we have today. The evidence is in this “Do’s and Don’t’s” lists from the 1918 pandemic that appeared on Twitter and immediately went viral.

The most important things on the list—wearing a mask, washing your hands, and avoiding crowds—are things we’re supposed to be doing today. But even 100 years ago, we had to plead with people to heed this advice and listen to scientists.

Most people complied, but a lot didn’t; there were four waves of the disease before the pandemic ended in April 1920.

Had they done what they were supposed to do, there’s no doubt that the infection and death tolls would have been lower, and the pandemic would have ended earlier.

We’re still relatively new to COVID-19, and we can still mitigate the damage. While there’s no way of eradicating COVID-19, we can pay attention to science and keep ourselves and others safe.

You know what they say: “Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

Are you doing all you can to keep yourself and others healthy during the COVID-19 pandemic? Let us know in the comments below!

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In 1918, People Protested Wearing Masks and the “Anti-Mask League” Was Born

If you’re a person who knows your history, this article probably isn’t going to surprise you. There really is nothing new under the sun, and the majority of human beings don’t evolve all that quickly (or at all). We’re very similar to those who founded democracy in Greece, to those who conquered the world for Rome, to those who kidnapped and sold men into slavery – and to our forebearers who did great things, and made good decisions, too.

We’re in the middle of a burning, deadly pandemic right now, but we’re not the first human beings to find ourselves in this situation – we’re not even the first Americans, of course, because in 1918-1919, the Spanish flu (a strain of H1N1) decimated the country.

Many of the same social distancing techniques we’re undertaking now were recommended at the time – and, like today, people quickly grew tired of being told what to do.

In early 1919, people in San Francisco were cautiously optimistic that they were coming out the other end when they learned that a second wave of the influenza was choking the city. Authorities were once again requiring the use of masks in public in order to stop the growing spread of the disease.

While most people in San Fran got back to work organizing mask-sewing events and wearing the required PPE in public, there were some who stubbornly refused – even though police were handing out fines and even putting people like John Raggi in jail.

Read the article in the San Francisco Chronicle,

“John Raggi, arrested on Columbus Avenue, said he did not wear a mask because he did not believe in masks or ordinances, or even jail.

He now has no occasion to disbelieve in jails.

He is in the city prison.”

Oof. Stone cold journalism right there.

Out of people’s frustration at the return to required face coverings, the Anti-Mask League was born. Emma Harrington, a lawyer (and San Fransisco’s first female voter in 1911), chaired the league, which saw two thousand people attend the first meeting.

They struggled to come up with common, actionable goals – some wanted to organize a petition, some wanted government health officials to be fired – and the fact that the mask-wearing seemed to be helping really did nothing to further their cause.

The day before the renewed decree to wear masks, there were 510 new cases and 50 deaths, but after just 11 days of proper PPE, the numbers had fallen to 12 new cases and just 4 deaths.

The league never got off the ground, with their last meeting dissolving into such chaos that someone had to shut off the lights to put a stop to the nonsense.

It didn’t matter much in the long run, since on February 1 – not even a month after the second round of mask decrees – the requirements were lifted once and for all.

The message? Just hang in there, y’all. Don’t lose your heads.

If history has consistently taught us anything, it’s that this, too, shall pass.

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