Mask And Spanish Flu

Mandating the mask a patriotic act mask wearing rules first came up in the western states.

Mask and spanish flu. To combat the spanish flu americans were told to make face masks with four to six layers of fine mesh gauze which is what was used in hospitals. The worst influenza pandemic in history was the spanish flu of 1918 1919. From the earliest recognition that a more deadly form of influenza was spreading quickly in fall 1918 us public health authorities recommended masks for doctors nurses and anyone taking care of influenza patients. It infected an estimated 500 million people about one third of the world s population and killed an estimated 50.

Surgical masks were made of gauze and many people s flu masks were made of gauze too. Like today as governments around the world try to contain the spread of covid 19 american citizens were asked to wear face masks in order to reduce the spread of the illness. The spanish fluwas a lethal virus in 1918 9 that is estimated to have infected a third of the world s population and left upwards of 50 million dead. The spanish flu ushered in a new era in the history of face masks when for the first time doctors patients as well as residents in america were asked to wear the mask outside their homes.

This all has echoes of the great influenza pandemic aka the spanish flu which killed some 50 million people in. The finer the mesh the better the gauze would be. As the spanish flu swept through the us in 1918 and 1919 face masks became ubiquitous to help in preventing the spread of the disease much as they have today during the coronavirus pandemic. An american policeman wearing a flu mask to protect himself from the outbreak of spanish flu following world war i.

The use of masks during the spanish flu pandemic 1918 nurses leaving blackfriars depot chippendale nsw australia during the flu epidemic in april of 1919.