The Flu: A Sidenote about Masks
A familiar-sounding litany of people’s problems with mask wearing during a global pandemic. Grumpy citizens, poor mask habits, holiday crowds who don’t want to give up their fun, and leaders who can’t seem to agree on the correct path to recovery. We apparently haven’t changed too much in 100 years.
Photo 1: The Oakland Municipal Auditorium is turned into a temporary hospital for the Red Cross in 1918 . The set-up at the Adelphian Hall would have been very similar to this, but with the patients more spread out. (Edward A. "Doc" Rogers, 1873-1960 - Photo by Edward A. "Doc" Rogers. From the Joseph R. Knowland collection at the Oakland History Room, Oakland Public Library. Digital copy via [1], Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6213389)
Photo 2: A decorated mask by a gentleman with a dark sense of humor (State Library of New South Wales - https://flic.kr/p/6iBSJe, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=34516356)
Photo 3: Outdoor Barbershop at the University of California, Berkeley (Unknown author or not provided - U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=88247546)
Photo 4: A nurse attends to a flu patient at Walter Reed Hospital, in Washington, D.C. (Harris & Ewing photographers - Photo by Harris & Ewing via Library of Congress website at [1]; converted from TIFF to .jpg and border cropped before upload, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=88516049)
Photo 5: A crowd wears masks while attending a football game in Georgia in 1918 (Thomas Carter - https://twitter.com/mrcfb/status/1257835680157351938Photograph provided by Georgia Tech alumnus Andy McNeil (misspelled in source), Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=89950218)
Photo 6: Red Cross workers in St.Louis remove a flu victim to an ambulance while wearing masks (Uncredited photographer for St. Louis Post Dispatch - St. Louis Post Dispatch photo via [1], Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6648032)
