The Anti-mask League - Spanish flu 1918
In late 1918, as that second wave of the deadly flu tore through San Francisco, many residents pushed back against earlier measures that health officials adopted. Some of the population who had worn masks before now objected.
Tim Mak, an investigative reporter for NPR in Washington, D.C. came across a mention of a group in San Francisco in late 1918 and early 1919 that called itself the "Anti-Mask League." The parallels between those citizens opposing the city mask ordinance in early 20th century San Francisco and the 21st-century Americans balking against shelter-in-place rules are striking.
... An Anti-Mask League meeting Jan. 25, 1919, drew 4,500 members and, two days later, the group found a sympathetic ear in Charles Nelson, a member of the board of supervisors for the city and county of San Francisco. Nelson declared that the masks were an "infringement of our personal liberty and that it was not in keeping with the spirit of a truly democratic people to compel people to wear the mask who do not believe in its efficacy, but rather that it is a menace to their health."
...
As the cases eventually declined in San Francisco, the mask ordinance was rescinded. But by the end of February 1919, the city's cases of influenza had doubled from its November count of 1,857 to 3,213. By the time the pandemic was over, an estimated 45,000 San Franciscans contracted the flu and 3,500 died of it.
https://health.howstuffworks.com/diseases-conditions/infectious/1919-anti-mask-league.htm
