‘Unmasking History’: Looking back at S.F.’s ‘mask slackers’ during the 1918 flu pandemic

You know that saying, “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” Few might agree right now, given the Bay Area, the United States and the whole world have been impacted over the last six months by the coronavirus pandemic.

Masks of varying materials, designs and cleanliness are everywhere; the tan lines this summer are going to be insane. Millions of Americans are fed up with stifling their breathing with N95s and avoiding their loved ones — to the point that angry, maskless citizens have shown up at state capitols with guns to demand the freedom to show their chins to the world, and also get a haircut. This is an unprecedented, spontaneous disease out of nowhere! Or is it?