What can teach us about what makes the Spanish flu obligatory

Should people be forced to wear face masks in public? This is a problem facing governments as more countries unlock the lockdown. Over 30 Countries require masks in public Including Germany, Austria, Poland. despite this Science Says the mask does little to protect the wearer, maybe Prevents them from infecting others.

Still, Scottish first minister Nikola Sturgeon published new guidelines Advice to Scotland While wearing masks for shopping and public transport, the British government Is expected to present New stance shortly. Meanwhile, US Vice President Mike Pence is controversial Refuse Mask up.

This has an echo of all the awesome influenza Pandemic, Alias Spanish cold, Killed some 50 million people between 1918 and 20 years. that is Great case study How people can withstand very strict limits, as long as they consider it beneficial.

Great shutdown

In the United StatesHistorically, no disease has caused a major flu-like invasion restriction. These included regulations on the amount of space allocated to people in schools, churches, soda fountains, theaters, cinemas, department stores, barbershops, indoor public places.

There were fines for coughing, sneezing, spiting, kissing, and talking outdoors, known as “Big Talkers” in Boston Grove. Special flu police were hired to surround children playing around the streets and sometimes in their backyards.

Restrictions were similarly strict in Canada, Australia and South Africa, but less so in Britain and the continent. Where there were such restrictions, the public accepted them all with little objection. Unlike Cholera’s long history, Especially in Europe, or Epidemic Massive violence did not occur in the Indian subcontinent from about 1896 to about 1902, and condemnation was rare-even against Spanish and minorities.

While masks were initially popular, face masks came closest to being the measure most opposed by people. The Oklahoma City Times of October 1918 explained that “a troop of young female soldiers” would “appear” in a crowded tram or desk with their face muffled by a gauze shield. From the same month, Ogden Standard reported that “Masked is fashionable” and the Washington Times talked about how it became “common” in Detroit.

Change of science

There was a scientific debate from the beginning on whether the mask works, but the game began to change after a French bacteriologist Charles Nicole In October 1918, influenza was discovered to be much smaller than other known bacteria.

The news spread rapidly even in newspapers in small American towns. The manga says, “It’s like shutting out a fly using a barbed wire fence.” But this was just where rising mortality in the US and western states of Canada. Despite the discovery of Nicole, various authorities have begun to mandate masks. San Francisco became the first major American city in October 1918 to continue for three months.

Alberta, Canada, and New South Wales, Australia, followed when the disease arrived in January 1919, a state that made decisions based on scientific evidence older than the findings of Charles Nicole. .. The only American state that made the mask mandatory was California (easily), but in other countries, including the East Coast and the United Kingdom, it was recommended for most people.

As shown in the picture above, many months after Nicole’s discovery, many crowds survived wearing masks. However, many began to distrust masks and regarded them as a violation of civil liberties. According to the Utah Front Page Report of November 1918 Garland City Grove:

The average man hung the mask on the back of his neck until the cop was visible. Most people made a hole to pierce a cigar or cigarette.

Plenty of disobedience

San Francisco witnessed the creation, protests, and civil disobedience of the Anti-Mask League. People either refused to wear masks in public, or flaunted them inappropriately. Some went to jail for not wearing them or refusing to pay fines.

In Tucson, Arizona, bankers strongly demanded that they go to jail instead of paying a fine for not masking. In other western states, judges regularly refused to wear them in court. In Alberta, the “Score” was fined in police courts for not wearing a mask. In New South Wales, newspapers were inundated with reports of violations shortly after masks were mandated. Even those who had stretchers carrying influenza victims did not follow the rules.

Britain was different. Musk was advised only as a precaution in large cities, and only for certain groups such as the flu nurses in Manchester and Liverpool. The serious question of effectiveness occurred only in the scientific community in March 1919. Currently, most British scientists are united against them, and Lancet’s calling mask is a “suspicious remedy.”

These arguments were steadily strengthened by US statistics. The head of the California Health Commission released findings from a San Francisco CEO in late 1918, showing that 78% of nurses were infected despite careful wearing of masks. It was

Doctors and health officials also released statistics comparing San Francisco mortality rates to nearby San Mateo, Los Angeles, and Chicago, although masks were not required. Their mortality rate was “not bad” or less. By the end of Pandemic In 1919, most scientists and the Health Commission reached an agreement. The benefits of wearing a mask are the same as us.

Clearly, many of these details are relevant today. While stricter rules prohibited conversations on the streets, kissing fiances, or attending religious worship, even in the heart of the American Bible, frivolous requirements made such matters a problem. It shows that.

Perhaps there is something about masks and human impulses that has not been properly studied. If a large amount of resistance to the mask develops within the next few months, it would be interesting to see if the new study would bring useful findings about phobia of covering the face.

This article was first published conversation Along Samuel Cone At University of Glasgow. Read Click here for the original article..