Partially filling a memory hole --
Over the past two years, historians and analysts have compared the coronavirus to the...
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In Denver, in late November 1918, an "amusement" lobby - businesses and leaders invested in keeping theaters, movie houses, pool halls and other public venues open - successfully pressured the mayor and public health officials to rescind and then revise a closure order. This, in turn, generated what the Rocky Mountain News called "almost indescribable confusion," followed by widespread public defiance of mask and other public health prescriptions.
In San Francisco, where resistance was generally less successful than in Denver, there was significant buy-in for a second round of masking and public health mandates in early 1919 during a new surge. But opposition created an issue. An Anti-Mask League formed, and public defiance became more pronounced. Eventually anti-maskers and an improving epidemic situation combined to end the "masked" city's second round of mask and public health mandates.
The takeaway: Fatigue and removing mitigation methods made things worse. Public officials needed to safeguard the public good, even if that meant unpopular moves.