Dear Editor,
William Faulkner once said “the past is never dead. It’s not even past.” Just over a century ago, the so-called “Spanish Flu” killed an estimated 50 million people including 675,000 Americans. Efforts to combat that pandemic included isolation, quarantine, limiting of public gatherings, and you guessed it, wearing a mask. Sound familiar? In fact, wearing a mask was seen as a patriotic duty because slowing the spread of the flu would help the war effort during World War I. However, after the war, people became restless and wanted a return to normalcy. In San Francisco, influenza cases were dwindling so people packed theaters and bars and the city’s cases went right back up. This did not deter a small group of citizens from forming “The Anti-Mask League” to protest the wearing of masks in public. They claimed the masks were uncomfortable and infringed on their rights. The same tired tropes are used today. The Anti-Mask League seems rather foolish in hindsight. A new study from the University of Washington says that if 95 percent of Americans wore a mask, 33,000 deaths could be prevented by October. We all need to do our part. Stay home. If you need to leave your home, wear a mask. Stay six feet apart. We know these measures work in slowing the spread of COVID-19. A rush to reopen Texas has proven disastrous, but it is not too late to change course.
Be smart,
Prescott J. Browning
San Marcos
