Similarities between the two historically infectious eras include a lack of accurate information, questionable cures, and a cadre of naysayers who considered masks “bunk”
When the National Institutes of Health compared local and national public health measures taken during the so-called ‘Spanish’ Flu and COVID-19 pandemics, the similarities were striking. In both eras, people relaxed prematurely, and in both eras, infection roared back with a vengeance.
Bogus information and bad behavior
On January 22, 1919, the Oakland Enquirer stated that the flu was neither communicable nor contagious and that anyone could use mind over matter to avoid infection.
On February 6, 1919, the Napa Daily Journal printed ‘An Official Test’ in which the local publication flat-out told readers that a recent experiment at a military installation called Goat Island conclusively proved that men who weren’t afraid of the flu would not catch it, even when the virus was deliberately put into their nose. The uncredited author wrote: