2. Facemasks did little good against the Spanish flu
Across the United States, as municipalities battled to contain the flu in 1918 and 1919, some mandated the wearing of facemasks when out in public. Unfortunately, though the concept was sound, the masks were not. Constructed of gauze, they did little to prevent the spread of disease. The same applied to the medicines available at the time. Flu vaccines were still in the distant future in 1918. Neither were antibiotics to treat secondary infections available to healthcare workers. Patent medicines, touted as miracle cures, faced no government control, and conned thousands into a false sense of security.
Cities across the United States enacted emergency laws making it a crime to expectorate on streets and sidewalks. Public drinking fountains were shut down. The second wave of Spanish flu, far worse than the first, appeared in the United States in the late summer of 1918, at a time when railroads were crowded with troops moving from training camps to debarkation points to be sent to Europe and the trenches. By September city officials across the country recognized, in some cases, a growing health crisis. St. Louis was among the first to observe the spreading illness at nearby military bases. How it responded is proof that we have seen something like our current crisis demonstrably false.