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diff --git a/smith/09_masks_1918 b/smith/09_masks_1918 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ee2d068 --- /dev/null +++ b/smith/09_masks_1918 @@ -0,0 +1,38 @@ +Masks, the 1918 ("Spanish") flu epidemic, and COVID-19 parallels + +Soldiers in Kansas were the patients zero: +- 4% death rate +- Came during World War I, so propagandists hid the news globally +- Misnamed Spanish + +Went through American cities: Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, NYC +- Inadequate public health +- Deliberate misinformations +- Widespread disobeyance of expert orders + +Public Health issues: +- Director of public health is a gynecologist, not an epidemiologist, + appointed by the city's "political machine" +- Downplaying by officials +- Many other health maladies: rampant pneumonia from factory ash +- Parades and liberty bonds went on to support the war effort (Sedition) +- Gaps in healthcare parallel to today + +Fake home remedies +- VapoRub as a cure for the virus +- Mandrake Pills, Honey, literal snake oil + +Disobeyance of expert orders +- Mask slackers in cities with mask orders arrested for 5-10 days at + fines of $5-10. + - enforcers hated for it +- Masks called "muzzles", "dirt traps." +- The look was poor: "slabs of ravioli" + - Four+ layer thick gauze mask +- Monetary issue: people want to go back + - Masquerade as a constitutional issue + - Threats on public officials' lives +- Businesses wanted back and convinced people to go to bat + +Actually still in existence---several relapses of generations of the flu +have happened, as recently as 2009 |