#covid19 #mask
*Anti-Mask League* of 1919
So, starting in Sept 2018 San Francisco suffered from Spanish Flu pandemic. Initial mask wearing was good — around 80 percent.
Flu got worse in San Francisco when masking was voluntary. A representative of organized labor relented: “It is of no time to quibble over the worth of the mask. It is the best thing we have found to date, and if you have anything better, for God’s sake, give it to us.”
So on Jan 10, 1919 local officials voted to approve a new mandatory mask order after 600 new cases were reported that day. Citizens were arrested/fined for not having masks on, but widespread disobedience of the order continue & large numbers of citizens refused to wear masks.
Protests continued: Over 2,000 people attended an event formed by San Franciscans called themselves ‘THE ANTI-MASK LEAGUE,’ denouncing the mandatory masking ordinance. The gathering was of “public spirited citizens, skeptical physicians and fanatics,” writes historian Crosby.
Moderates in the Anti-Mask League wanted to circulate an anti-mask petition. Extremists wanted to initiate recall proceedings of SF’s Public Health Officer. Chaos broke out until someone shouted, “I rented this hall and now I’m going to turn out the lights.”
On Jan 17, the day the masking ordinance went into effect, the # of new cases/deaths declined, the first decline in quite some time. This continued until the epidemic faded, a signal that the mask ordinance had helped wipe out the Spanish Flu in San Francisco
“Of course, the SF Public Health Officer — the 1919 version of Dr. Fauci, got no credit for the decline in influenza cases. People continued to gripe about the masking even after the pandemic had been stalled by it”
No one seemed to credit masking for the success of blunting the Spanish Flu in San Francisco — because, well, the crisis faded due to its success “Rarely has the evidence in support of a scientific hypothesis been more overwhelming and more deceiving,” writes historian Crosby