Masks were required in 1918 in this country, and we’re still free.
We’ve been here before. This will pass. Hopefully, it’ll be a hundred years before hit happens again.
Because medical professionals realized in 1918 that the flu was passed through respiratory droplets, there was a nationwide call for Americans to make and wear masks. And like most of today’s guidelines, masks were encouraged but not mandatory, except for in a few cities — like San Francisco — which made masks mandatory by penalty of fine or imprisonment.
Unfortunately, despite this law, San Francisco’s infection and death rates were pretty much identical to those of Boston, Buffalo, and Washington, where masks were optional.
The most important reason to study history is to not repeat mistakes of the past. Unfortunately the lessons from the Spanish Flu pandemic have been lost in the effort to propagandize COVID-19.