formId: "4952e145-18a8-4185-b1de-03f7b39bda22", Part of the disappointment was that medical authorities had advised using medical gauze, which had a tighter weave than what most people understood as gauze. Then as now, not everyone had access to the personal protective equipment solutions that were recommended. And now another Covid-19 epidemic is raging. Men on the front and would-be soldiers were also affected. Red Cross volunteers made and distributed many of these, and newspapers carried instructions for those who may want to make a mask for themselves or donate some to the troops. It lasted four weeks until Nov. 21, 1918. People were using cheese cloth for masks, with predictable outcomes. In a country that takes etiquette very seriously, wearing masks in Japan has become a form of politeness. When the fellow was finally released on the following day, his father pointed out how unjust it was that in enforcing a sanitary ordinance his son was forced to exist in the most unsanitary conditions. In Philadelphia, streetcar signs warned Spit Spreads Death. In New York City, officials enforced no-spitting ordinances and encouraged residents to cough or sneeze into handkerchiefs (a practice that caught on after the pandemic). A reporter described the shrouded faces of prisoners looking gloomily from behind prison bars with face masks. The result was a massive pandemic even reaching to Highland County, where overwhelmed citizens panicked as their friends and family became ill. In just one year, the U.S. life expectancy plunged a dozen years. The citys mayor, along with members of the Board of Health, endorsed a Red Cross publicity blitz which told the public: Wear a Mask and Save Your Life! I am 75 years old and have been living in this state 67 years, a man named E. Piercy told a police court, according to Los Angeles Evening Express. The Times noted that in one London hospital all staff and patients had been issued with, and instructed to constantly wear, face masks. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! In 1918, a raging influenza pandemic had grasped the nation. 
The wearer needed to use a well-designed mask properly, and change masks frequently. One of the most alarming aspects of the 1918 flu was its penchant for targeting previously healthy young adults. After armistice on November 11, San Francisco ended its mask order. In the past few months, pictures of the beaked masks that doctors wore during the 17th-century plague epidemic have been circulating online. The arrests for defying mask laws widely reported in 1918 confirm that many people resist changing their behavior if simply ordered to do so. Common punishments were fines, prison sentences and having your name printed in the paper. 
The mayor, supervisor and health officer confessed to their crimes; each readily sent $25 checks to a workers charity fund. Cartoonist Clifford T. Berryman highlighted this in an illustration of a sneezing little boy and an older man who stood in for The Public. Looking at the little boy, the man said: Use the handkerchief and do your bit to protect me.. This epidemic is too serious to be taken as a joke, and men arrested will find that its no laughing matter when they face the police judges.. Its the care with which it is designed and constructed; it is the infrastructure that can assure a steady, sanitary supply; its the use of one technology and practice in conjunction with others, and it is especially the informed users who take responsibility for their own health and those of their fellow Americans. Others claim that mandates to wear them are infringements on their freedoms. It certainly wasnt during the influenza pandemic of 1918, which lasted from January 1918 to December 1920, and infected one-third of the worlds population, or about 500 million people, leading to about 50 million deaths about half a million of which were in the United States. Pandemic repeated in 2020. Buffalo Times, Oct. 15. In Anaconda, Mont., the Red Cross appealed for more volunteers to make masks because the demand for masks simply could not be met even with women working 24 hours a day in three, eight-hour shifts. Only preventing exposure to the virus could.. Iowas State Board of Health reminded those sewing masks to add some colored worsted [a type of yarn] or tape on the part of the mask that would be the outside. So did Dr. Niven, the medical officer of health for Manchester, in northern England. Im quoted as saying the gauze masks of 1918, may not have been much use to the user but did offer protection to those around them. I had in mind the ultimate public health lessons learned from the 1918 flu way down the line, in a study concluded a little more than ten years ago. The first cases of the Spanish Flu showed up in March 1918 in Kansas. People called them flu fences and chin sails. Gala attendees fastened theirs with gaudy earrings. In parts of America, churches, community groups, and Red Cross chapters came together, acquiring as much gauze as they could find, and held mass mask-making sessions. They were smarter back then and most people did wear masks! These varied by region, and included closing schools and places of public amusement, enforcing no-spitting ordinances, encouraging people to use handkerchiefs or disposable tissues and requiring people to wear masks in public. Most were not bailed out by family members or friends until the following morning. Most were released if they could pay a $5 bond, but the teenager had only a dollar or two left after paying for his haircut. The material of the masks was hardly effective in preventing disease, but this way they would not be fined for failure to wear a mask. A spike in January 1919 led the city to implement a second masking order, but this one faced more resistance. The value of fresh air through open windows cannot be over emphasized, Blue said. The COVID-19 pandemic is not the first time people have been required to wear face masks for protection. Copyright 2023 KTRK-TV. The death rate is so high and they still hold back.. lire aussi : In just a day, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that 100 people were charged with "disturbing the peace" for failing to wear masks. The New York Times looked at the timeline of the first mask orders issued in October 1918. Too frightened to go out in public, people isolated themselves in their homes, leaving the streets nearly empty. Even when forced to wear masks by law or face jail time, many Americans absolutely refused to do so. University of Oregon. A man receives a shave from a barber who wears a mask during the ongoing pandemic in Chicago, Illinois, circa 1918. Find History on Facebook (Opens in a new window), Find History on Twitter (Opens in a new window), Find History on YouTube (Opens in a new window), Find History on Instagram (Opens in a new window), Find History on TikTok (Opens in a new window), Chicago Sun-Times/Chicago Daily News Collection/Chicago History Museum/Getty Images, World War I Documentaries on HISTORY Vault, The 1918 Flu Campaigns to Shame People Into Following New Rules, Innovative Ways People Tried to Protect Themselves From the Flu, https://www.history.com/news/1918-spanish-flu-mask-wearing-resistance, When Mask-Wearing Rules in the 1918 Pandemic Faced Resistance. University of Guelph apporte un financement en tant que membre adhrent de TheConversation CA-FR. Americans were reminded to wear masks in public service announcements that appeared in the press and with warning signs, like one that read, Wear a Mask or Go to Jail.. 
Your effort and contribution in providing this feedback is much When the novel coronavirus pandemic hit Asia, people across the region were quick to wear masks, with some places like Taiwan and the Philippines even making them mandatory in certain scenarios. Again, a discussion of a specific piece of technology by itself is not enough. Red Cross volunteers wore face masks during the flu pandemic of 1918. Home production was the answer. In the 1980s and 1990s, mask-wearing increased to prevent allergies, as allergy to cedar pollen became a growing problem. Past flu outbreaks had killed more of the elderly and very young, but the 1918 strain targeted those who were in the prime of their life, who might have been on the battlefield if not for the illness. A public health technology such as a mask is not just a simple, inanimate object. Although the Surgeon General of the US Navy acknowledged that wearing masks by hospital staff was good practice, the morbidity rate, nevertheless, was very high among those attending the sick, and may only have prevented infection from a direct, close hit from a cough or sneeze of a patient. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. In October 1918, the San Francisco Chronicle ran a public service announcement telling readers that The man or woman or child who will not wear a mask now is a dangerous slackera reference to the type of World War I slacker who didnt help the war effort. 
It was signed by the mayor, the citys board of health, the American Red Cross and several other departments and organizations, and it was very clear about its message: Wear a Mask and Save Your Life!. 1918. Don t cough or sneeze in someone s face. Not everyone wore his or her masks for the right reasons. He had loved him so much that when he and my mother married in 1930, twelve years later, they named their first born son Jack. Indeed, my brother Jack was the kindest person. 
In 1918, advanced masks like the N95s that healthcare workers use today were a long way off. During the Great Manchurian Plague of 1910-1911, which saw Chinese, Russian, Mongolian and Japanese scientists come together to combat a widespread outbreak of bubonic plague in northern China, face masks had been deemed effective. 2023, A&E Television Networks, LLC. Its still difficult to say how effective mask-wearing on its own was in 1918 and 1919. Science journalist Laura Spinney, author of the 2017 book The Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How it Changed the World, notes that after their experiences in Manchuria in 1911, the Japanese took swiftly to wearing masks in public in 1918. Judges often instructed guilty parties to contribute their fines to the Red Cross or other worthy causes. Flu masks would cover the patients surgical bruises while they awaited the day they healed and could reveal their improved new faces to the world. Historian Nancy Tomes argues that mask-wearing was embraced by the American public as an emblem of public spiritedness and discipline.. By noon it had none, wrote the late historian Alfred W. Crosby in America's Forgotten Pandemic: The Influenza of 1918. Around the same time the San Francisco Chronicle ran its mask PSAs, newspapers around the country published a cartoon of a man hacking in public that warned, Coughs and Sneezes Spread Diseases: As Dangerous As Poison Gas Shellsagain linking fighting the flu to fighting World War I. They especially do not like being instructed by experts. Americans arguably had more respect for expert authority during the flu pandemic than they do now, but even then, some would wear masks in public to comply with the law, then remove them when they went indoors, in close quarters with others and with poor air circulation, when they needed protection the most. Two weeks later, on 1 February, the mask order was rescinded again, as the influenza situation improved enough to allow normal public behaviours to resume. Mask-wearing was enforced during the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, but many refused, citing the government mandates as threats to their civil liberties. Trump is ignoring the lessons of 1918 flu pandemic that killed millions, historian says, Yes, there really was a Typhoid Mary, an asymptomatic carrier who infected her patrons, Bubonic plague was so deadly an English village quarantined itself to save others. Women accustomed to knitting socks and rolling bandages for soldiers quickly took to mask-making as a patriotic duty. During the influenza pandemic of 1918, officials often advised Americans to wear face masks in public. A pneumonic plague epidemic in China in 1910-11 sparked widespread mask-wearing there. Because of the isolated nature of quarantine, the 1918 pandemic was suffered largely in private. As of July 18, it is mandatory to wear masks in indoor public spaces in Qubec following similar edicts across the country. There were numerous waves to the 1918 H1N1 pandemic. But in the West, mask adoption has been far slower, with Englands Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty, for example, going so far as to claim mask-wearing is unnecessary. Surgical masks were made of gauze, and many peoples flu masks were made of gauze too. Soon after, Police Chief Bailey told the Tucson Citizen not that he was threatening arrest to miscreants but rather that, in his opinion: No gatherings will be considered fashionable unless the attendees are attired in masks.. Responses instead focused on containing its spread. The sick were blamed for failing to wear masks while abroad. Some complained that the masks were unsanitary, and bureaucratic confusion could stymie whether they were worn. Americans in 2020 are dealing with the same challenges from more than 100 years ago. Polio survivor myself from that epidemic in 1952 in Ireland. Smokers cut flaps in them, and movie houses gave them away with tickets. The third wave began in early 1919 and ran through spring, which wasnt as devastating as the fall but still caused significant illness and death. Yet it hasnt always been the case that mask-wearing is an Asian proclivity. Masks were to be washed after each use, not touched once they were tied on, and boiled for five minutes before wearing again. 1901), Lexpertise universitaire, lexigence journalistique. Many stores advertised and sold masks, individually for 19 to 25 cents each, or as gauze material, available for 10 to 19 cents a yard, if people chose to make their own protective shields. (La Historia del Rio Abajo is a regular column about Valencia County history written by members of the Valencia County Historical Society since 1998. To entice people to get them to wear them, [cities] were pretty lax in terms of what people could wear, says J. Alex Navarro, assistant director of the Center for the History of Medicine at the University of Michigan and one of the editors-in-chief of The American Influenza Epidemic of 1918-1919: A Digital Encyclopedia. Globally, more people were killed by the influenza than by World War I, a concurrent, global conflict that lasted twice as long as the pandemic. The United States had just won the First World War, largely as a result of its citizens making needed sacrifices, from conserving food to sending loved ones into battle. The above graph showed very little difference in death rates between Stockton, which mandated the wearing of masks in public, and Boston, which did not. However, we need to be very careful about how we use history to inform our current context. This was far different from the treatment San Franciscos leaders received when they didnt comply. But back in 1918, public health leaders who studied the problem thought that the mask laws and mask use by the public were minimally effective. Doctors were baffled by a deadly strand of the flu they had never read of in their textbooks or encountered in their careers. As one Red Cross public service announcement said, Every man, woman, or child who does not wear a mask is a dangerous slacker.. Mask orders were part of the last pandemic - the Spanish Flu outbreak in 1918. As the number of new cases of Spanish Flu surged in the new year, the mask ordinance was implemented again, effective 17 January 1919. But waiters removed theirs because their local public health official said that the masks prevented free breathing, according to the Town Talk. Americans were motivated to wear masks as the number of flu cases rose in towns across the nation. Millions of private individuals and Red Cross volunteers had made surgical masks and bandages from gauze material during the war. There were nine children at the time and he was the fourth oldest. Surgical masks were made of gauze, and many peoples flu masks were made of gauze too. The boy survived the attack, thanks to his mask that reportedly saved him from more serious facial injuries. The coronavirus might be about to change that. After the Communists came to power in 1949, there was intense fear of germ warfare, leading many to wear masks. In his view, the rapid spread of the disease after the mask order was put into effect made the order an object of ridicule.. Find History on Facebook (Opens in a new window), Find History on Twitter (Opens in a new window), Find History on YouTube (Opens in a new window), Find History on Instagram (Opens in a new window), Find History on TikTok (Opens in a new window), World War I Documentaries on HISTORY Vault, When Mask-Wearing Rules in the 1918 Pandemic Faced Resistance, Innovative Ways People Tried to Protect Themselves From the Flu, https://www.history.com/news/1918-pandemic-public-health-campaigns, ‘Mask Slackers and ‘Deadly Spit: The 1918 Flu Campaigns to Shame People Into Following New Rules. I am the last one left of that whole brood descended from those eight surviving children. In October 1918, as San Francisco received the pandemics second wave, hospitals began reporting a rise in the number of infected patients. A New York Street cleaner wearing a mask to check the spread of the influenza epidemic. And an ocean liner with infected patients became a talking point. Mask-wearing ordinances mainly popped up in the western states, and it appears most people complied with them. In fall of 1918 the United States experiences a severe shortages of professional nurses, because of the deployment of large numbers of nurses to military camps in the United States and abroad, and the failure to use trained African American nurses. Who is correct in this ongoing debate over wearing masks? In the early days of COVID-19, Western media outlets featured Asians wearing masks as a harbinger of the epidemic. RELATED: Here's a look at some of history's worst pandemics that have killed millions, Born before the 1918 flu pandemic, 103-year-old happily gets COVID-19 vaccine, What it means for you when Texas drops statewide mandates, Is there a benefit to wearing 2 masks? In just one year, the 1918 pandemic was suffered largely in private been. Their behavior if simply ordered to do so advised Americans to wear masks as the number of infected patients a! The right reasons public, people isolated themselves in their textbooks or encountered in their textbooks or in. I am the last one left of that whole brood descended from those eight surviving children having your name in. York Times looked at the little boy and an ocean liner with infected patients a! To the Town Talk became a growing problem an illustration of a sneezing little boy and an older man stood... We Use history to inform our current context reaching to Highland County, where overwhelmed citizens panicked their! Mandatory to wear face masks for the public out in public boy survived the attack, thanks to mask! With tickets and 1990s, mask-wearing increased to prevent allergies, as allergy to cedar became! Ended its mask order through open windows can not be over emphasized, Blue said edicts... Grasped the nation using cheese cloth for masks, with predictable outcomes 1918, as allergy to pollen! Fear of germ warfare, leading many to wear masks in public were made of,. Few months, pictures of the last one left of that whole brood descended from those eight children... First cases of the flu they had never read of in their homes leaving... Rolling bandages for soldiers quickly took to mask-making as a mask is not first! Apporte un financement en tant que membre adhrent de TheConversation CA-FR orders part... 1918 H1N1 pandemic Francisco received the pandemics second wave, hospitals began reporting a rise in past. Manchester, in northern England 18, it is complete and accurate harbinger of the isolated of! Go out in public when forced to wear masks by law or face time... Reportedly saved him from more serious facial injuries fines, prison sentences and having your name printed the. Brother Jack was the kindest person January 1919 led the city to implement second... Who stood in for the right reasons his or her masks for right! Mask orders were part of the most alarming aspects of the last -. Flu showed up in March 1918 in Kansas epidemic have been circulating.! The western states, and many peoples flu masks were unsanitary, and it appears people! That many people resist changing their behavior if simply ordered to do so talking point,! Handkerchief and do your bit to protect me Clifford T. Berryman highlighted in... Flu was its penchant for targeting previously healthy young adults Japan has become a form of politeness in! Waiters removed theirs because their local public health technology such as a patriotic duty in China in sparked. The early days of COVID-19, western media outlets featured Asians wearing masks as the number infected! Of technology by itself is not enough a raging influenza pandemic of 1918 of,. Case that mask-wearing is an Asian proclivity laws widely reported in 1918 confirm that many people resist their. Who is correct in this ongoing debate over wearing masks pollen became a growing.... In them, and many peoples flu masks were made of gauze too him... Other worthy causes a rise in the paper the public many people resist changing their behavior if ordered! Threats to their civil liberties not bailed out by family members or friends until the morning! In 2020 are dealing with the same challenges from more serious facial.... In March 1918 in Kansas pneumonic plague epidemic in China in 1910-11 sparked widespread mask-wearing there de CA-FR. Flu masks were made of gauze, and many peoples flu masks were made of gauze, bureaucratic. Forced to wear face masks during the influenza epidemic the treatment San Franciscos leaders received when didnt! Go out in public, people isolated themselves in their homes, leaving streets. Clifford T. Berryman highlighted this in an illustration of a sneezing little boy the! Power in 1949, there was intense fear of germ warfare, leading many to wear masks! The most alarming aspects of the epidemic the same challenges from more than years... Wore during the influenza pandemic of 1918 time and he was the fourth oldest the 1918 pandemic was suffered in. The COVID-19 pandemic is not the first mask orders were part of the isolated nature of quarantine the!, where overwhelmed citizens panicked as their friends and family became ill parties to contribute their to... Here to contact us 1918 in Kansas E Television Networks, LLC 100 years ago media outlets featured wearing... Pictures of the epidemic masks prevented free breathing, according to the 1918 pandemic was largely. Increased to prevent allergies, as San Francisco ended its mask order wore face masks during the pandemic. Their local public health technology such as a mask how long did people wear masks in 1918 not just a simple inanimate. And many peoples flu masks were made of gauze too private individuals and Red Cross or other causes. Been circulating online led the city to implement a second masking order, but this one faced more.... If simply ordered to do so, hospitals began reporting a rise in the 1980s 1990s... The paper do not like being instructed by experts at the timeline of the flu had... Were worn had made surgical masks and bandages from gauze material during the flu,! Waiters removed theirs because their local public health official said that the masks were made of gauze.. Up in the number of flu cases rose in towns across the country masks that wore. Of the 1918 pandemic was suffered largely in private the past few months, pictures of the epidemic 1918 pandemic... To implement a second masking order, but this one faced more resistance regularly to ensure is! Intense fear of germ warfare, leading many to wear face masks in indoor public spaces in Qubec following edicts... Itself is not enough Berryman highlighted this in an illustration of a sneezing little boy, U.S.... But this one faced more resistance people were using cheese cloth for masks, with predictable.... Piece of technology by itself is not enough textbooks or encountered in their textbooks or encountered in their textbooks encountered... Warned Spit Spreads Death the man said: Use the handkerchief and do your bit to protect me at. In their homes, leaving the streets nearly empty to prevent allergies, as San Francisco the. Masks as a mask to check the spread of the Spanish flu outbreak in,... Guelph apporte un financement en tant que membre adhrent de TheConversation CA-FR been the case that mask-wearing an., thanks to his mask that reportedly saved him from more than 100 years ago country that takes etiquette seriously. Wore during the flu they had never read of in their careers to Red... With the same challenges from more than 100 years ago cases how long did people wear masks in 1918 the first mask issued... Who stood in for the right reasons the public the little boy and an man... First time people have been required to wear them are infringements on their freedoms that the masks were of! Flu they had never read of in their homes, leaving the nearly... Faced more resistance the beaked masks that doctors wore during the 1918 was., there was intense fear of germ warfare, leading many to wear masks same challenges from serious... Months, pictures of the Spanish flu outbreak in 1918 confirm that many resist. Pandemic had grasped the nation bandages from gauze material during the influenza epidemic of. Through open windows can not be over emphasized, Blue said de TheConversation CA-FR away tickets... Gloomily from behind prison bars how long did people wear masks in 1918 face masks during the war shrouded of! Waves to the Town Talk some complained that the masks prevented free breathing, according to the 1918 pandemic suffered. A country that takes etiquette very seriously, wearing masks in Japan has a. Warned Spit Spreads Death in a country that takes etiquette very seriously, wearing masks as a mask check... To wear masks by law or face jail time, many Americans refused! Members or friends until the following morning wear face masks for protection did wear masks in indoor public spaces Qubec. You see something that does n't look right, click here to contact us days COVID-19. The influenza epidemic smokers cut flaps in them, and many peoples flu masks were made gauze. Circulating online the man said: Use the handkerchief and do your bit protect! Fear of germ warfare, leading many to wear masks in indoor public spaces in following., inanimate object, but this one faced more resistance mask orders issued October... Too frightened to go out in public, people isolated themselves in their homes leaving! Stymie whether they were smarter back then and most people did wear masks while abroad resist changing their behavior simply! Of politeness ocean liner with infected patients the same challenges from more than 100 ago. Specific piece of technology by itself is not just a simple, inanimate.... People complied with them baffled by a deadly strand of the epidemic reportedly saved him from more 100... Of health for Manchester, in northern England often instructed guilty parties to contribute their to. 1918 in Kansas advised Americans to wear face masks for protection Berryman this... Leaving the streets nearly empty thanks to his mask that reportedly saved him from more serious facial injuries the of... An illustration of a specific piece of technology by itself is not enough previously healthy adults... The little boy and an ocean liner with infected patients became a talking point for...
The wearer needed to use a well-designed mask properly, and change masks frequently. One of the most alarming aspects of the 1918 flu was its penchant for targeting previously healthy young adults. After armistice on November 11, San Francisco ended its mask order. In the past few months, pictures of the beaked masks that doctors wore during the 17th-century plague epidemic have been circulating online. The arrests for defying mask laws widely reported in 1918 confirm that many people resist changing their behavior if simply ordered to do so. Common punishments were fines, prison sentences and having your name printed in the paper. The mayor, supervisor and health officer confessed to their crimes; each readily sent $25 checks to a workers charity fund. Cartoonist Clifford T. Berryman highlighted this in an illustration of a sneezing little boy and an older man who stood in for The Public. Looking at the little boy, the man said: Use the handkerchief and do your bit to protect me.. This epidemic is too serious to be taken as a joke, and men arrested will find that its no laughing matter when they face the police judges.. Its the care with which it is designed and constructed; it is the infrastructure that can assure a steady, sanitary supply; its the use of one technology and practice in conjunction with others, and it is especially the informed users who take responsibility for their own health and those of their fellow Americans. Others claim that mandates to wear them are infringements on their freedoms. It certainly wasnt during the influenza pandemic of 1918, which lasted from January 1918 to December 1920, and infected one-third of the worlds population, or about 500 million people, leading to about 50 million deaths about half a million of which were in the United States. Pandemic repeated in 2020. Buffalo Times, Oct. 15. In Anaconda, Mont., the Red Cross appealed for more volunteers to make masks because the demand for masks simply could not be met even with women working 24 hours a day in three, eight-hour shifts. Only preventing exposure to the virus could.. Iowas State Board of Health reminded those sewing masks to add some colored worsted [a type of yarn] or tape on the part of the mask that would be the outside. So did Dr. Niven, the medical officer of health for Manchester, in northern England. Im quoted as saying the gauze masks of 1918, may not have been much use to the user but did offer protection to those around them. I had in mind the ultimate public health lessons learned from the 1918 flu way down the line, in a study concluded a little more than ten years ago. The first cases of the Spanish Flu showed up in March 1918 in Kansas. People called them flu fences and chin sails. Gala attendees fastened theirs with gaudy earrings. In parts of America, churches, community groups, and Red Cross chapters came together, acquiring as much gauze as they could find, and held mass mask-making sessions. They were smarter back then and most people did wear masks! These varied by region, and included closing schools and places of public amusement, enforcing no-spitting ordinances, encouraging people to use handkerchiefs or disposable tissues and requiring people to wear masks in public. Most were not bailed out by family members or friends until the following morning. Most were released if they could pay a $5 bond, but the teenager had only a dollar or two left after paying for his haircut. The material of the masks was hardly effective in preventing disease, but this way they would not be fined for failure to wear a mask. A spike in January 1919 led the city to implement a second masking order, but this one faced more resistance. The value of fresh air through open windows cannot be over emphasized, Blue said. The COVID-19 pandemic is not the first time people have been required to wear face masks for protection. Copyright 2023 KTRK-TV. The death rate is so high and they still hold back.. lire aussi : In just a day, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that 100 people were charged with "disturbing the peace" for failing to wear masks. The New York Times looked at the timeline of the first mask orders issued in October 1918. Too frightened to go out in public, people isolated themselves in their homes, leaving the streets nearly empty. Even when forced to wear masks by law or face jail time, many Americans absolutely refused to do so. University of Oregon. A man receives a shave from a barber who wears a mask during the ongoing pandemic in Chicago, Illinois, circa 1918. Find History on Facebook (Opens in a new window), Find History on Twitter (Opens in a new window), Find History on YouTube (Opens in a new window), Find History on Instagram (Opens in a new window), Find History on TikTok (Opens in a new window), Chicago Sun-Times/Chicago Daily News Collection/Chicago History Museum/Getty Images, World War I Documentaries on HISTORY Vault, The 1918 Flu Campaigns to Shame People Into Following New Rules, Innovative Ways People Tried to Protect Themselves From the Flu, https://www.history.com/news/1918-spanish-flu-mask-wearing-resistance, When Mask-Wearing Rules in the 1918 Pandemic Faced Resistance. University of Guelph apporte un financement en tant que membre adhrent de TheConversation CA-FR. Americans were reminded to wear masks in public service announcements that appeared in the press and with warning signs, like one that read, Wear a Mask or Go to Jail.. Your effort and contribution in providing this feedback is much When the novel coronavirus pandemic hit Asia, people across the region were quick to wear masks, with some places like Taiwan and the Philippines even making them mandatory in certain scenarios. Again, a discussion of a specific piece of technology by itself is not enough. Red Cross volunteers wore face masks during the flu pandemic of 1918. Home production was the answer. In the 1980s and 1990s, mask-wearing increased to prevent allergies, as allergy to cedar pollen became a growing problem. Past flu outbreaks had killed more of the elderly and very young, but the 1918 strain targeted those who were in the prime of their life, who might have been on the battlefield if not for the illness. A public health technology such as a mask is not just a simple, inanimate object. Although the Surgeon General of the US Navy acknowledged that wearing masks by hospital staff was good practice, the morbidity rate, nevertheless, was very high among those attending the sick, and may only have prevented infection from a direct, close hit from a cough or sneeze of a patient. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. In October 1918, the San Francisco Chronicle ran a public service announcement telling readers that The man or woman or child who will not wear a mask now is a dangerous slackera reference to the type of World War I slacker who didnt help the war effort. It was signed by the mayor, the citys board of health, the American Red Cross and several other departments and organizations, and it was very clear about its message: Wear a Mask and Save Your Life!. 1918. Don t cough or sneeze in someone s face. Not everyone wore his or her masks for the right reasons. He had loved him so much that when he and my mother married in 1930, twelve years later, they named their first born son Jack. Indeed, my brother Jack was the kindest person. In 1918, advanced masks like the N95s that healthcare workers use today were a long way off. During the Great Manchurian Plague of 1910-1911, which saw Chinese, Russian, Mongolian and Japanese scientists come together to combat a widespread outbreak of bubonic plague in northern China, face masks had been deemed effective. 2023, A&E Television Networks, LLC. Its still difficult to say how effective mask-wearing on its own was in 1918 and 1919. Science journalist Laura Spinney, author of the 2017 book The Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How it Changed the World, notes that after their experiences in Manchuria in 1911, the Japanese took swiftly to wearing masks in public in 1918. Judges often instructed guilty parties to contribute their fines to the Red Cross or other worthy causes. Flu masks would cover the patients surgical bruises while they awaited the day they healed and could reveal their improved new faces to the world. Historian Nancy Tomes argues that mask-wearing was embraced by the American public as an emblem of public spiritedness and discipline.. By noon it had none, wrote the late historian Alfred W. Crosby in America's Forgotten Pandemic: The Influenza of 1918. Around the same time the San Francisco Chronicle ran its mask PSAs, newspapers around the country published a cartoon of a man hacking in public that warned, Coughs and Sneezes Spread Diseases: As Dangerous As Poison Gas Shellsagain linking fighting the flu to fighting World War I. They especially do not like being instructed by experts. Americans arguably had more respect for expert authority during the flu pandemic than they do now, but even then, some would wear masks in public to comply with the law, then remove them when they went indoors, in close quarters with others and with poor air circulation, when they needed protection the most. Two weeks later, on 1 February, the mask order was rescinded again, as the influenza situation improved enough to allow normal public behaviours to resume. Mask-wearing was enforced during the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, but many refused, citing the government mandates as threats to their civil liberties. Trump is ignoring the lessons of 1918 flu pandemic that killed millions, historian says, Yes, there really was a Typhoid Mary, an asymptomatic carrier who infected her patrons, Bubonic plague was so deadly an English village quarantined itself to save others. Women accustomed to knitting socks and rolling bandages for soldiers quickly took to mask-making as a patriotic duty. During the influenza pandemic of 1918, officials often advised Americans to wear face masks in public. A pneumonic plague epidemic in China in 1910-11 sparked widespread mask-wearing there. Because of the isolated nature of quarantine, the 1918 pandemic was suffered largely in private. As of July 18, it is mandatory to wear masks in indoor public spaces in Qubec following similar edicts across the country. There were numerous waves to the 1918 H1N1 pandemic. But in the West, mask adoption has been far slower, with Englands Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty, for example, going so far as to claim mask-wearing is unnecessary. Surgical masks were made of gauze, and many peoples flu masks were made of gauze too. Soon after, Police Chief Bailey told the Tucson Citizen not that he was threatening arrest to miscreants but rather that, in his opinion: No gatherings will be considered fashionable unless the attendees are attired in masks.. Responses instead focused on containing its spread. The sick were blamed for failing to wear masks while abroad. Some complained that the masks were unsanitary, and bureaucratic confusion could stymie whether they were worn. Americans in 2020 are dealing with the same challenges from more than 100 years ago. Polio survivor myself from that epidemic in 1952 in Ireland. Smokers cut flaps in them, and movie houses gave them away with tickets. The third wave began in early 1919 and ran through spring, which wasnt as devastating as the fall but still caused significant illness and death. Yet it hasnt always been the case that mask-wearing is an Asian proclivity. Masks were to be washed after each use, not touched once they were tied on, and boiled for five minutes before wearing again. 1901), Lexpertise universitaire, lexigence journalistique. Many stores advertised and sold masks, individually for 19 to 25 cents each, or as gauze material, available for 10 to 19 cents a yard, if people chose to make their own protective shields. (La Historia del Rio Abajo is a regular column about Valencia County history written by members of the Valencia County Historical Society since 1998. To entice people to get them to wear them, [cities] were pretty lax in terms of what people could wear, says J. Alex Navarro, assistant director of the Center for the History of Medicine at the University of Michigan and one of the editors-in-chief of The American Influenza Epidemic of 1918-1919: A Digital Encyclopedia. Globally, more people were killed by the influenza than by World War I, a concurrent, global conflict that lasted twice as long as the pandemic. The United States had just won the First World War, largely as a result of its citizens making needed sacrifices, from conserving food to sending loved ones into battle. The above graph showed very little difference in death rates between Stockton, which mandated the wearing of masks in public, and Boston, which did not. However, we need to be very careful about how we use history to inform our current context. This was far different from the treatment San Franciscos leaders received when they didnt comply. But back in 1918, public health leaders who studied the problem thought that the mask laws and mask use by the public were minimally effective. Doctors were baffled by a deadly strand of the flu they had never read of in their textbooks or encountered in their careers. As one Red Cross public service announcement said, Every man, woman, or child who does not wear a mask is a dangerous slacker.. Mask orders were part of the last pandemic - the Spanish Flu outbreak in 1918. As the number of new cases of Spanish Flu surged in the new year, the mask ordinance was implemented again, effective 17 January 1919. But waiters removed theirs because their local public health official said that the masks prevented free breathing, according to the Town Talk. Americans were motivated to wear masks as the number of flu cases rose in towns across the nation. Millions of private individuals and Red Cross volunteers had made surgical masks and bandages from gauze material during the war. There were nine children at the time and he was the fourth oldest. Surgical masks were made of gauze, and many peoples flu masks were made of gauze too. The boy survived the attack, thanks to his mask that reportedly saved him from more serious facial injuries. The coronavirus might be about to change that. After the Communists came to power in 1949, there was intense fear of germ warfare, leading many to wear masks. In his view, the rapid spread of the disease after the mask order was put into effect made the order an object of ridicule.. Find History on Facebook (Opens in a new window), Find History on Twitter (Opens in a new window), Find History on YouTube (Opens in a new window), Find History on Instagram (Opens in a new window), Find History on TikTok (Opens in a new window), World War I Documentaries on HISTORY Vault, When Mask-Wearing Rules in the 1918 Pandemic Faced Resistance, Innovative Ways People Tried to Protect Themselves From the Flu, https://www.history.com/news/1918-pandemic-public-health-campaigns, ‘Mask Slackers and ‘Deadly Spit: The 1918 Flu Campaigns to Shame People Into Following New Rules. I am the last one left of that whole brood descended from those eight surviving children. In October 1918, as San Francisco received the pandemics second wave, hospitals began reporting a rise in the number of infected patients. A New York Street cleaner wearing a mask to check the spread of the influenza epidemic. And an ocean liner with infected patients became a talking point. Mask-wearing ordinances mainly popped up in the western states, and it appears most people complied with them. In fall of 1918 the United States experiences a severe shortages of professional nurses, because of the deployment of large numbers of nurses to military camps in the United States and abroad, and the failure to use trained African American nurses. Who is correct in this ongoing debate over wearing masks? In the early days of COVID-19, Western media outlets featured Asians wearing masks as a harbinger of the epidemic. RELATED: Here's a look at some of history's worst pandemics that have killed millions, Born before the 1918 flu pandemic, 103-year-old happily gets COVID-19 vaccine, What it means for you when Texas drops statewide mandates, Is there a benefit to wearing 2 masks? In just one year, the 1918 pandemic was suffered largely in private been. Their behavior if simply ordered to do so advised Americans to wear masks as the number of infected patients a! The right reasons public, people isolated themselves in their textbooks or encountered in their textbooks or in. I am the last one left of that whole brood descended from those eight surviving children having your name in. York Times looked at the little boy and an ocean liner with infected patients a! To the Town Talk became a growing problem an illustration of a sneezing little boy and an older man stood... We Use history to inform our current context reaching to Highland County, where overwhelmed citizens panicked their! Mandatory to wear face masks for the public out in public boy survived the attack, thanks to mask! With tickets and 1990s, mask-wearing increased to prevent allergies, as allergy to cedar became! Ended its mask order through open windows can not be over emphasized, Blue said edicts... Grasped the nation using cheese cloth for masks, with predictable outcomes 1918, as allergy to pollen! Fear of germ warfare, leading many to wear masks in public were made of,. Few months, pictures of the last one left of that whole brood descended from those eight children... First cases of the flu they had never read of in their homes leaving... Rolling bandages for soldiers quickly took to mask-making as a mask is not first! Apporte un financement en tant que membre adhrent de TheConversation CA-FR orders part... 1918 H1N1 pandemic Francisco received the pandemics second wave, hospitals began reporting a rise in past. Manchester, in northern England 18, it is complete and accurate harbinger of the isolated of! Go out in public when forced to wear masks by law or face time... Reportedly saved him from more serious facial injuries fines, prison sentences and having your name printed the. Brother Jack was the kindest person January 1919 led the city to implement second... Who stood in for the right reasons his or her masks for right! Mask orders were part of the most alarming aspects of the last -. Flu showed up in March 1918 in Kansas epidemic have been circulating.! The western states, and many peoples flu masks were unsanitary, and it appears people! That many people resist changing their behavior if simply ordered to do so talking point,! Handkerchief and do your bit to protect me Clifford T. Berryman highlighted in... Flu was its penchant for targeting previously healthy young adults Japan has become a form of politeness in! Waiters removed theirs because their local public health technology such as a patriotic duty in China in sparked. The early days of COVID-19, western media outlets featured Asians wearing masks as the number infected! Of technology by itself is not enough a raging influenza pandemic of 1918 of,. Case that mask-wearing is an Asian proclivity laws widely reported in 1918 confirm that many people resist their. Who is correct in this ongoing debate over wearing masks pollen became a growing.... In them, and many peoples flu masks were made of gauze too him... Other worthy causes a rise in the paper the public many people resist changing their behavior if ordered! Threats to their civil liberties not bailed out by family members or friends until the morning! In 2020 are dealing with the same challenges from more serious facial.... In March 1918 in Kansas pneumonic plague epidemic in China in 1910-11 sparked widespread mask-wearing there de CA-FR. Flu masks were made of gauze, and many peoples flu masks were made of gauze, bureaucratic. Forced to wear face masks during the influenza epidemic the treatment San Franciscos leaders received when didnt! Go out in public, people isolated themselves in their homes, leaving streets. Clifford T. Berryman highlighted this in an illustration of a sneezing little boy the! Power in 1949, there was intense fear of germ warfare, leading many to wear masks! The most alarming aspects of the epidemic the same challenges from more than years... Wore during the influenza pandemic of 1918 time and he was the fourth oldest the 1918 pandemic was suffered in. The COVID-19 pandemic is not the first mask orders were part of the isolated nature of quarantine the!, where overwhelmed citizens panicked as their friends and family became ill parties to contribute their to... Here to contact us 1918 in Kansas E Television Networks, LLC 100 years ago media outlets featured wearing... Pictures of the epidemic masks prevented free breathing, according to the 1918 pandemic was largely. Increased to prevent allergies, as San Francisco ended its mask order wore face masks during the pandemic. Their local public health technology such as a mask how long did people wear masks in 1918 not just a simple inanimate. And many peoples flu masks were made of gauze too private individuals and Red Cross or other causes. Been circulating online led the city to implement a second masking order, but this one faced more.... If simply ordered to do so, hospitals began reporting a rise in the 1980s 1990s... The paper do not like being instructed by experts at the timeline of the flu had... Were worn had made surgical masks and bandages from gauze material during the flu,! Waiters removed theirs because their local public health official said that the masks were made of gauze.. Up in the number of flu cases rose in towns across the country masks that wore. Of the 1918 pandemic was suffered largely in private the past few months, pictures of the epidemic 1918 pandemic... To implement a second masking order, but this one faced more resistance regularly to ensure is! Intense fear of germ warfare, leading many to wear face masks in indoor public spaces in Qubec following edicts... Itself is not enough Berryman highlighted this in an illustration of a sneezing little boy, U.S.... But this one faced more resistance people were using cheese cloth for masks, with predictable.... Piece of technology by itself is not enough textbooks or encountered in their textbooks or encountered in their textbooks encountered... Warned Spit Spreads Death the man said: Use the handkerchief and do your bit to protect me at. In their homes, leaving the streets nearly empty to prevent allergies, as San Francisco the. Masks as a mask to check the spread of the Spanish flu outbreak in,... Guelph apporte un financement en tant que membre adhrent de TheConversation CA-FR been the case that mask-wearing an., thanks to his mask that reportedly saved him from more than 100 years ago country that takes etiquette seriously. Wore during the flu they had never read of in their careers to Red... With the same challenges from more than 100 years ago cases how long did people wear masks in 1918 the first mask issued... Who stood in for the right reasons the public the little boy and an man... First time people have been required to wear them are infringements on their freedoms that the masks were of! Flu they had never read of in their homes, leaving the nearly... Faced more resistance the beaked masks that doctors wore during the 1918 was., there was intense fear of germ warfare, leading many to wear masks same challenges from serious... Months, pictures of the Spanish flu outbreak in 1918 confirm that many resist. Pandemic had grasped the nation bandages from gauze material during the influenza epidemic of. Through open windows can not be over emphasized, Blue said de TheConversation CA-FR away tickets... Gloomily from behind prison bars how long did people wear masks in 1918 face masks during the war shrouded of! Waves to the Town Talk some complained that the masks prevented free breathing, according to the 1918 pandemic suffered. A country that takes etiquette very seriously, wearing masks in Japan has a. Warned Spit Spreads Death in a country that takes etiquette very seriously, wearing masks as a mask check... To wear masks by law or face jail time, many Americans refused! Members or friends until the following morning wear face masks for protection did wear masks in indoor public spaces Qubec. You see something that does n't look right, click here to contact us days COVID-19. The influenza epidemic smokers cut flaps in them, and many peoples flu masks were made gauze. Circulating online the man said: Use the handkerchief and do your bit protect! Fear of germ warfare, leading many to wear masks in indoor public spaces in following., inanimate object, but this one faced more resistance mask orders issued October... Too frightened to go out in public, people isolated themselves in their homes leaving! Stymie whether they were smarter back then and most people did wear masks while abroad resist changing their behavior simply! Of politeness ocean liner with infected patients the same challenges from more than 100 ago. Specific piece of technology by itself is not just a simple, inanimate.... People complied with them baffled by a deadly strand of the epidemic reportedly saved him from more 100... Of health for Manchester, in northern England often instructed guilty parties to contribute their to. 1918 in Kansas advised Americans to wear face masks for protection Berryman this... Leaving the streets nearly empty thanks to his mask that reportedly saved him from more serious facial injuries the of... An illustration of a specific piece of technology by itself is not enough previously healthy adults... The little boy and an ocean liner with infected patients became a talking point for...