Twitter Thread: 1919 Anti-Mask Protests During Spanish Flu

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Eric Lund
Apr 20, 2020 11:00 AM EDT

Journalist Tim Mak explains the time San Francisco residents got tired of wearing masks in 1919 and decided to hold huge maskless events during the outbreak of the Spanish Flu. What a relatable public health themed nightmare.

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  • 01
    Text - Tim Mak @timkmak THREAD - History doesn't repeat itself, but it rhymes: a thread about the **Anti-Mask League** of 1919. I'm not kiddingI went HAM researching this So, starting in Sept 2018 San Francisco suffered from Spanish Flu pandemic. Initial mask wearing was good around 80 percent 2:10 PM · Apr 19, 2020 · Twitter Web App 3.9K Retweets 6.2K Likes Tim Mak O @timkmak · 3h Replying to @timkmak By November cases were down, and public health officials recommended re- opening the city. Res
    via Tim Mak

    *1918

  • 02
    Text - Tim Mak O @timkmak · 3h San Francisco residents were fed up. This was the second wave of the pandemic, and they had already spent months between Sept and Nov being hassled, fined and even arrested for not having a mask on. Challenges of constitutionality were heard. ♡ 3 27 166 864 Tim Mak O @timkmak · 3h Christian Scientists objected, arguing that it was "subversive of personal liberty and constitutional rights." Civil libertarians argued that if health officials could force them to wear
    via Tim Mak
  • 03
    Text - Tim Mak O @timkmak · 3h San Francisco's Public Health Officer stuck by his guns, refusing to back down, and saying there was evidence that masks helped! He implored the public to look to the data! Wear masks! They help! More via Crosby: It seemed to Hassler that San Franciscans were preversely ignoring the facts. He pointed out on December 12: “When the masks were removed, only ten cases a day were being reported. Nine days later the daily total was reaching 75, and it has increased ever
    via Tim Mak
  • 04
    Text - Tim Mak O @timkmak · 2h 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 27 140 ♡ 709 Tim Mak O @timkmak · 2h 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.
    via Tim Mak
  • 05
    Text - Tim Mak O @timkmak · 2h 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 2 27 101 646 Tim Mak O @timkmak · 2h 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 mo
    via Tim Mak
  • 06
    Text - Tim Mak O @timkmak · 2h The 1918/1919 protests against mask wearing and other public health measures have parallels to today We learn through this episode that various groups of Americans have been pushing back against public health measures for more than a hundred years -- and for similar reasons!! 27 166 742 Tim Mak O @timkmak · 2h In learning about the Anti-Mask League of 1919, we see many of the same human elements as today: a portion of the population resistant to the measures; a bus
    via Tim Mak

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