How’s this for déjà vu? History.com has an article about mandatory masking being implemented in the United States during the Spanish Influenza. Here’s a short excerpt:
“San Francisco’s first masking order began in October [1918] and ended in November after the World War I armistice. In January, when flu cases began to surge again in San Francisco, the city implemented a second mask order. This time, the resistance was much more intense. A group of dissenters that included a few physicians and one member of the Board of Supervisors formed the ‘Anti-Mask League,’ which held a public meeting with over 2,000 attendees.”
So is Hugs Over Masks a 2020 reincarnation of the 1918 Ani-Mask League? The good news is mandatory masks didn’t last then. Let’s see if history repeats itself and we all give up this face covering superstition once again.