What can we learn from the 1918 pandemic?

As we roll into another year still battling the pandemic, it’s hard not to reminisce about the normalcy of our regular day lives before the tragic events of 2020.

I’m sure that’s what people thought over a hundred years ago too when the Spanish flu of 1918 was taking place. You would be surprised at how closely the current events of today mirror the past. Let’s take a look at the similarities of the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic compared to Covid-19 pandemic.

Masks

While people are currently masked up in N95s, surgical, or cloth masks, back then, people used surgical gauze and cheesecloths. They called them interesting names such as “muzzles,” “flu fences, and “germ fields.” They often poked holes in them to smoke as well.

Just like some people today, there was also some hostility regarding mask-wearing back then. The Anti-Mask League of San Francisco was formed to protest against masks, but it only lasted a month. Because of the opposition to masks, cities such as San Francisco, Pasadena, California, and Oakland had to institute mask laws.

Sanitation & Hygiene

Just like now, it was common knowledge in 1918 that washing your hands was essential for proper hygiene, but now we have the addition of hand sanitizers, anti-bacterial soap, and many other health and cleaning products to help us in our day to day lives. But did you know, that we have powder rooms and heat radiators because of the Spanish flu?

In order to keep down the spread of disease, homes started to be built with a room close to the door where people could wash their hands when they came in to avoid possibly contaminating the rest of the house. Home heat radiators went from inside the walls to under the window so the room would stay heated even with the windows wide open to keep fresh air circulating.

Quarantining

You think you have it bad now in terms of entertainment? Imagine a world with no TVs, internet, cell phones, or apps. How do think people occupied themselves back in 1918?

Well there wasn’t really much going on at home.

If you weren’t sick, your daily life consisted of work, chores, or schoolwork, and if you had any free time, reading–if you had any books on hand. Having access to books was not as easy as it is today with sites like Amazon and devices like Kindles that can hold thousands of titles.

Lockdown

The closures of schools, restaurants, theaters, bars, saloons, and churches were stricter in some parts of the country than others, much like now. Some movie theaters were allowed to open as long as customers left a seat between each other. When it came to stores, window-shopping was the standard. Public health officials at the time pushed cities to regulate hospital visits that were full of patients.

Whether it was the Spanish Flu of 1918 or COVID-19, the struggle to survive and maintain a somewhat normal life was very similar. In fact, you know that saying, “There’s nothing new under the sun,”? That definitely applies. There’s one more thing that is similar to back then. Just like the Spanish Flu pandemic eventually ended, so will ours.

Life may look different, but we will get through it just like they did.