1918 San Francisco

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These Historic Photos Show How San Francisco Survived the Last Pandemic

You can see parallels between the community response to the 1918 Spanish Flu and Covid-19

Casey O'Brien

Apr 6 · 4 min read

Photo courtesy of the U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command/Thoughtco Picture

Covid-19 has completely changed the way we live, and it feels unprecedented. But the world, and San Francisco, has actually been here before, a little over 100 years ago during the deadliest flu epidemic in American history, referred to as the 1918 Spanish Flu. Back then, the city — like now — shut down schools, emptied streets, improvised hospitals, canceled events, encouraged mask-wearing, and most of all, firmly warned to stay at home.

Taking a look back at photos from that year, it can be jarring to see such similarities to today and interesting to see what they did differently (for better or worse.) In the image above, dozens of men lie in a warren of narrow beds separated by simple cloth screens, forming a sea of white. It’s reminiscent of photos we’re seeing today of hospitals crowded with Covid-19 patients around the world. But the men in this photo weren’t sick yet — like us, they’re practicing social distancing. Although… not up to our standards today.