A city of masks: When the flu tore through San Francisco

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 9-11-2015 | Gary Kamiya

[DEPcom]

For six weeks during the fall of 1918 and winter of 1919, San Francisco was a masked city. Everyone who lived in or visited town was required to cover his or her mouth and nose in public.

Those who did not were reprimanded, fined or arrested. The streets of the city looked like they were full of bank robbers, surgeons, attendees at a Venetian ball or Tokyo dwellers with colds.

[SaxxonWoods]

Thanks for your input. I’ve been watching South Carolina too, along with other states that have had case increases. The states having increases are the states that had it easy until now. It seems that every state will experience a sharp outbreak at some point. The exceptions are the states with less urban areas, it seems.

“I do currently have doubts on the homemade masks but not the N95”

I have read the N95 will not stop the virus itself, it’s too small.

[fr_freak]

To put your question #1 in perspective, the Spanish Flu killed roughly 200k in the USA in the first year. We are halfway through the first year of COVID-19, at 150k deaths in the USA.

Correction: we are halfway through the first year of COVID, with 150k deaths ATTRIBUTED to COVID. The actual number of COVID-caused deaths is unknown. My understanding is that we currently have a number of locations that are revising down their death numbers because WHOOPSIE! We said 98% when it was 9.8%! That is in addition to the number of deaths where COVID was merely present, assumed to be present, or a false positive, among other common reporting errors.

COVID may not descend to the level of being a complete joke, but it isn't anywhere near the level of the Spanish Flu.

[DEPcom]

“Assuming kids have both parents and one of them stay at home.”

In the average household today I think it takes both parents to make a living.

Here is a question I was just asking myself due to your reply:

If both parents did not have to work, would the one parent who stays home dedicate time to ensure the child is successful? I am not sure if that would happen.

[MinorityRepublican]

If both parents did not have to work, would the one parent who stays home dedicate time to ensure the child is successful? I am not sure if that would happen.

A lot of times, no.

[sasquatch]

You win...
6/(2^.5)~ 4.2426 ft.

[delta7]

” the virus is not a joke”....., you are correct, not a joke to unbelievers. A huge, massive hoax to those that are believers and have been given the eyes to see and ears to hear.

[dinodino]

I used the lower estimate, as found in multiple sources online. If you prefer to use the higher numbers, be my guest.

[CodeJockey]

Imagine if you were born in the year 1900. We don’t know jack about trying times.

[sima_yi]

To put this into perspective:

1918 - Spanish Flu - Overall Mortality Rate (OMR) - 0.65% (This is the best estimate of the number of deaths divided by the population, expressed as a percentage.)

2020 - SARS-nCov-2 (COVID-19) - OMR - 0.043% (Death data from the CDC as of 23 July 2020, population data from the Census Bureau)

The Spanish Flu was around 15 times as bad as Covid19 (that is, fifteen TIMES worse, not 15 percent worse). There was a high level of concern, but no panic such as we are seeing today.