1918 Officials Called Americans Without Masks "Dangerous Slackers"

The San Francisco Chronicle in its October 22, 1918 edition published a hefty insult to Americans who refused to wear mask.

The first and second mandatory mask laws in San Francisco led to intense anger felt by its residents, especially those Americans who formed the Anti-Mask League.

While some skeptical physicians, some of which helped form the Anti-Mask League, argued against that the efficacy of the gauze mask against the spread of the 1918 influenza pandemic, the Red Cross and other health officials took the opposite stance.

Americans “Dangerous Slackers”

According to the San Francisco Chronicle the Red Cross authorized a statement in agreement with other city authorities including the San Francisco Board of Health and the State Council of Defense that had a new label for the Americans who refused to or simply did not comply with wearing a mask.

The term was “dangerous slackers”.

The derogatory statement was the following, “Doctors wear them. Those who do not wear them get sick. The man or woman or child who will not wear a mask now is a dangerous slacker.”

Directions for when and where to wear masks are also included, “Wear masks going to work, at work, going home, at home.” Basically the easiest way to explain the directions is by defining the few exceptions here for when and where not to wear a mask.

Masks the “Only Way”

The published notice adds that the health organizations who authorized the statement believed that wearing the gauze masks which some physicians questioned the overall efficacy of, wear the “only way to stamp out the epidemic.”