October 22nd, 1918 marked three deaths and 263 new cases of Spanish Influenza in the city of Richmond within the span of 24 hours. Richmond‘s determined health commissioner, Dr. Charles Blake, had been taking every precaution to help digress the spread of the virus, not willing to let up.
This article lists the names of the three people who had passed away from the virus rather than keeping them concealed, which in retrospect allowed the readers to pursue their own round of contact tracing.
During this time, the Red Cross had set up on Ninth Street and Nevin Avenue where they made gauze masks which they provided to those who needed them. Physicians and volunteer nurses were working nonstop alongside the Red Cross to “bring about an abatement to the disease,” maintaining the belief that it would be “stamped out within the next few days.” However, the article then mentions that there were very few families in Richmond that did not have at least one family member afflicted with the influenza, holding the presumption that the rest of the members would eventually fall ill too.
As with the current Covid-19 Pandemic, many of those infected in 1918 only suffered from a mild form while others were ravaged by pneumonia and died quickly after initially contracting the virus.
While people today are wielding a variety of mask types to help prevent the spread of the virus, whether it’s homemade, medical, or just a plain scarf, basic gauze masks were most common during the 1918 pandemic. The Big Store gave away the gauze, tape, and instructions to enable people to construct their own masks.
Meanwhile, locations in San Francisco were providing masks as well. Certain pharmacies were also supplying the favored preventative gargle called Dobell’s Solution to those that brought their own containers. Plastered around the City were signs stating something along the lines of, “if you want to save your life, wear a gauze mask.“
The Richmond Clubhouse, which was located on Twelfth Street and Nevin Avenue, was requisitioned by the Red Cross after the women of the Richmond[‘s Women’s] Club turned it over so that it could become an emergency hospital. Fifty cots were to be set up to aid those in need who did not have a home to return to.
Similarly, at the start of the current Covid-19 pandemic, Richmond’s Craneway Pavilion was converted into an emergency hospital, having set up 255 medical beds so that hospitals would not become overwhelmed, while the homeless were to be set up with hotel rooms to help protect them in case of a major outbreak.
Out of diligence, a corps of inspectors from the Health Department were sent out to visit all businesses, warning the proprietors and employees to wear gauze masks. While the majority of the business owners complied to the orders, the two that refused were given two days to reconsider before they would be forced to remain closed. The following day, households would be visited by the Health Department to further push the gauze mask ruling, providing free masks made by the Red Cross.
For some, it might be hard to imagine that during the 1918 Pandemic, Macdonald Avenue was bustling with commuters who utilized the old streetcar systems to get to their destinations. During the 1918 Pandemic, Dr. Blake declared that the streetcars were to blame for helping spread the virus, especially when the cars were packed during rush hour periods. To help ease the spread, Dr. Blake spoke with the superintendent of Richmond’s streetcar system, Charles F. Donnelly, requesting that the conductors, as well as the commuters, wear masks while riding the streetcars. It was mentioned that during their discussion, a conductor by the name of W.D. Adams disrupted them, belligerently stating that he would refuse to wear a mask. Dr. Blake considered the man as being “insolent and insulting” and had him arrested for “disturbing the peace.”
Back then, those who refused to wear a mask during the 1918 pandemic were called “mask slackers” and although the Bay Area did a decent job at adhering to the mask ruling, an Anti-Mask League of San Francisco did exist. The City tried to crack down on those refusing the mandatory mask ruling by handing out fines or jail sentencing.
It appears that Richmond too had people against it and that some of the public may have doubted Dr. Blake’s power to push the ruling, but he seemed to have enough leeway to push citizens to abide. He even had Standard Oil comply with his demands as the company required its workers to wear masks during their commute to the refinery.
Once again, masks have become the new normal that sheerly help keep us all safe from the spread of Covid-19.
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