Why Gauze Masks ‘Failed’ in 1918 — And What We Can Do Better

A look at the mistakes Americans made while wearing homemade cloth masks to protect against the Spanish flu, according to the secretary of the California State Board of Health in 1918

An American Red Cross worker wears a gauze mask during the Spanish flu pandemic in 1918. Photo: Paul Thompson/FPG/Stringer/Getty Images

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has now recommended that all Americans wear masks as we live through this pandemic. And so, like our relatives who faced the influenza pandemic 102 years ago, we are now covering our noses and mouths in public with cloth masks — because that’s what’s available. Except this time, our masks will be better (we hope) and definitely more colorful.

Although there is evidence to show that surgical masks and N95 respirators offered significant protection of medical workers against contracting SARS (a closely related coronavirus), we are now moving into uncharted territory by using homemade cloth face masks to protect against Covid-19. So why not turn back the clock and learn what we can about a time when cloth masks were the gold standard?

Most of us have seen photos of nurses, workers, children, and possibly even cats wearing masks during the Spanish flu pandemic. But despite the widespread use of masks in 1918, some experts at the time concluded that…