1918: The Year America Put on Masks. In 1918, as the influenza pandemic swept across the United States, cities urged citizens to wear gauze face masks in public. Health departments distributed instructions on how to fold and disinfect them, and some towns passed ordinances requiring masks on streetcars, in shops, and at workplaces. Local governments responded with some of the earliest large-scale public health restrictions in American history. Theaters, schools, saloons, and churches were closed

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