- Alan Taylor
- July 16, 2020
- 20 Photos
- In Focus
As people worldwide adapt to living with the threat of COVID-19, and especially as the rate of new cases continues to grow in the United States, the wearing of face masks remains widely recommended, and in many places, mandatory. A century ago, an outbreak of influenza spread rapidly across the world, killing more than 50 million—and possibly as many as 100 million—people within 15 months. The scale, impact, and nature of the disease back then were all very different from today’s pandemic—but the act of wearing a face covering to prevent further contagion became widely adopted, then as now. While some of the masks were made of improper material or were not used properly, most provided some level of protection against transmission by blocking droplets from the nose and mouth. Below, a collection of images from a century ago of people doing their best to keep others and themselves safe.
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Nurses in Boston hospitals, equipped to fight influenza #
National Archives
Two men wearing and advocating the use of flu masks in Paris, France. The signs translate roughly as: "The [Germans] are defeated, yes, but the flu is not" and "Mask yourself and mask each other. Try it, you'll like it." #
Topical Press Agency / Getty
Baseball players wear masks to prevent the spread of infection during the influenza epidemic of 1918. #
Underwood And Underwood / The LIFE Images Collection via Getty
Nurses leaving Blackfriars Depot, Chippendale NSW, Australia, during the flu epidemic, in April of 1919. #
NSW State Archives / Tara Majoor
Volunteers wear masks while feeding children of stricken families. #
Bettmann Archive / Getty
Left: A letter carrier in New York City, October, 1918. Right: Thousands of these masks were distributed by policemen to all police stations, to be used whenever duty called in New York City. #
National Archives
To prevent as much as possible the spread of influenza, Cincinnati barbers wore masks. Barbers all over the country took this precaution. #
National Archives
Japanese school girls wear protective masks to guard against the influenza outbreak. #
Bettmann Archive / Getty
Members of the Student Army Training Corps wear influenza masks in Portland, Oregon, on October 27, 1918. #
National Archives
Left: A conductor checks to see if potential passengers are wearing masks in Seattle, Washington. During the influenza epidemic, masks were required for all passengers. Right: A worker wears a mask to prevent the spread of influenza. The New York Health Board admonished citizens to wear masks to check the spread of the influenza epidemic: "Better ridiculous than dead," was the view of one official. #
Library of Congress via AP, National Archives, Library of Congress / The Crowley Company / AP
OA telephone operator with protective gauze in 1918 #
Bettmann Archive / Getty
Women at work in Red Cross rooms in Seattle, Washington, with influenza masks on #
National Archives
Policemen in Seattle, Washington, wear masks made by the Seattle Chapter of the Red Cross. #
National Archives
Corpsmen in caps and gowns are ready to attend patients in the influenza ward of a U.S. Navy hospital, in Mare Island, California, on December 10, 1918. #
U.S. Navy
New York City conductorettes wear masks, on October 16, 1918. #
National Archives
An open-air barber shop serves customers during the epidemic at the University of California, Berkeley, 1919. #
National Archives
In this November 1918 photo, a nurse takes the pulse of a patient in the influenza ward of the Walter Reed hospital in Washington, D.C. #
Harris & Ewing / Library of Congress via AP
Red Cross Motor Corps on duty in St. Louis, Missouri, October 1918 #
National Archives
Patients at a moving-picture show wear masks in Royat, France. #
U.S. National Library of Medicine
A sailor and a member of the Women's Motor Corps wear masks while treating influenza patients injured by the explosions of a coal loading plant at Morgan, New Jersey, on October 5, 1918. #
National Archives
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