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Everyone wore masks during the 1918 flu pandemic. They were useless.
Washington Post ^ | April 2, 2020 | Eliza Mcgraw

Posted on 02/21/2021 4:19:09 PM PST by delta7

People called them “flu fences” and “chin sails.”........ During the influenza pandemic of 1918, officials often advised Americans to wear face masks in public. Doctors believed that masks could help prevent “spray infections,” according to historian John M. Barry in his book, “The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History.” Enforced by local health officials, the facial coverings grew routine. Often, Red Cross chapters fashioned and distributed the masks that were “seen everywhere and would become a symbol of the epidemic,” Barry wrote. Americans used the masks as a method of retaining some normalcy during a pandemic that killed at least 675,000 Americans and 50 million people worldwide. If directed to wear a mask, homemade worked. “Take a piece of gauze the size of a sheet of typewriter paper,” said instructions in the Atlanta Constitution. “Fold it twice, so that it will fit an envelope. Then attach strings to the four corners and tie these strings at the back of the neck. The mask covers the nose and mouth, so that the wearer breathes through four thicknesses of gauze. A clean handkerchief is just as good as the gauze.” Now, amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is debating whether it should recommend that people wear masks when they go outside. In 1918, with a different virus, it didn’t help. Iowa’s State Board of Health reminded those sewing masks to add some “colored worsted [a type of yarn] or tape” on the part of the mask that would be the outside. The upper margin was to be drawn tightly over the bridge of the nose, right under the eyes. Masks were to be washed after each use, and boiled for five minutes before wearing again.....

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: coronavirus; faketitle; influenza; learnhowtopost; masks; moreoldnews; oldnews
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To: Secret Agent Man

It’s kind of sad, you go out walking and see more thrown away masks than beer cans and mini booze bottles on the shoulder.


21 posted on 02/21/2021 4:39:42 PM PST by nascarnation
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To: Leaning Right
Surgeons in the operating room always wear masks.

To prevent bodily fluids and other germs (think staph infections) from harming the patient.

22 posted on 02/21/2021 4:40:14 PM PST by MinorityRepublican
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To: humblegunner

Wait, what? You’re the guy who flips out at bloggers here and YOU ask why do you care what others do? Oh man, that’s rich!


23 posted on 02/21/2021 4:40:48 PM PST by SoCal Pubbie
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To: delta7

Fun twitter thread...
https://twitter.com/ianmSC/status/1363540456269774848

2022 Olympian Balding 大老板 Retweeted
IM
@ianmSC
Well everyone. It’s time.

It’s officially been two weeks since the single worst thing that’s ever happened to experts & media…maskless Super Bowl Celebrations

They’ve been wrong SO many times…surely THIS is the time a huge maskless gathering becomes a “superspreader” “


24 posted on 02/21/2021 4:42:12 PM PST by mrsmith (US MEDIA: " Every 'White' cop is a criminal! And all the 'non-white' criminals saints!")
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To: jmacusa

> I can tell you one thing, if you saw the video I saw on You Tube showing how and where these masks are made and by whom you wouldn’t want it anywhere near your face. <

I agree entirely! The ChiComs started this virus. Was it by accident or on purpose? We’ll never know. And when you go to buy a preventative mask, you’ll find that they’re all made...in Communist China! It would be funny if it wasn’t so tragic.

As for me, I wear a cloth mask that my next-door neighbor made. She’s an old lady who loves to do crafts. As to that mask’s effectiveness, I have no idea.


25 posted on 02/21/2021 4:48:40 PM PST by Leaning Right (I have already previewed or do not wish to preview this composition.)
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To: delta7

The Washington Post hates masks. I don’t have any emotions about them one way or the other.


26 posted on 02/21/2021 4:49:01 PM PST by familyop
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To: delta7

Masks weren’t useless, they caused millions to die from pneumonia.


27 posted on 02/21/2021 4:50:53 PM PST by Bulwyf
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To: humblegunner

Because people are playing right into the globalists lap and they rat out those that don’t comply. Hmm, this actually sounds familiar.


28 posted on 02/21/2021 4:53:05 PM PST by Bulwyf
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To: delta7

Masks are, were and always will be theater... Nothing more.


29 posted on 02/21/2021 4:53:11 PM PST by HamiltonJay
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To: Leaning Right

Surgeons don’t wear them all day every day. An honest one will tell you that that is harmful.


30 posted on 02/21/2021 4:54:13 PM PST by Bulwyf
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To: relictele

“Mask zealotry”

Thanks, I’m stealing that, that’s perfect.


31 posted on 02/21/2021 4:55:10 PM PST by Bulwyf
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To: humblegunner

Probably for the same reason you crap on just about every thread on FR.

Next question?


32 posted on 02/21/2021 4:56:19 PM PST by moonhawk (And then the cock crowed for the third time....)
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To: Ruy Dias de Bivar

I had read that over half of the people dropped from pneumonia. Aided by mask wearing.


33 posted on 02/21/2021 5:00:03 PM PST by Bulwyf
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To: delta7

#StayStrong
#WeAreAllInThisTogether
#BeAHeroSitOnYourCanAtHome

etc


34 posted on 02/21/2021 5:00:19 PM PST by a fool in paradise (Call on Joe Biden to follow Donald Trump's example and donate his annual salary to charity. )
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To: ifinnegan

“I heard Biden is now wearing two masks.”

He’s double-diapering these days, too! You know, to set the example for the Dementia Crowd. ;)


35 posted on 02/21/2021 5:02:35 PM PST by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have 'Hobbies.' I'm developing a robust post-Apocalyptic skill set. )
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To: delta7

What do you have against paragraphs?


36 posted on 02/21/2021 5:02:49 PM PST by deport ( )
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To: delta7

Yes and you know what else happened during the Spanish Flu pandemic in 1918?

They held an election.


37 posted on 02/21/2021 5:02:54 PM PST by crz
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To: SkyDancer

“The Spanish flu, also known as the 1918 influenza pandemic, was an unusually deadly influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus.”


38 posted on 02/21/2021 5:05:26 PM PST by Captain Compassion (I'm just sayin')
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To: humblegunner

People who want to wear masks can. But if masks make no difference in the spread of the ChiCom virus, then local and state kakistocracies, along with federal health officials, that forced people to wear masks under threat of arrest, fines and imprisonment, should be held criminally and civilly accountable.


39 posted on 02/21/2021 5:06:01 PM PST by Carl Vehse
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To: Captain Compassion

Read medical reports that it was a bacterial type of flu and the only thing that would help cure it was penicillin which of course wasn’t discovered until much later; all they had was aspirin.


40 posted on 02/21/2021 5:06:58 PM PST by SkyDancer (Remember Ashli Babbitt!)
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