1918 Flu Pandemic - American Experience Documentary - What about those MASKS? Transcript Excerpt: NARRATION: In many places, officials rushed through laws requiring people to wear masks in public. NARRATION: All of America, it seemed, put on masks. At last, many thought, they were safe. NARRATION: But masks didn't help. They were thin and porous -- no serious restraint to tiny microbes. It was like trying to keep out dust with chicken wire. Same tiny microbes today. The N95 mask is for hospital use and needs to be FIT TESTED and SEALED to your face to work properly. But we are given videos instructing us to take cloth and wrap it around our faces. Hypoxia  Hypercapnia https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/influenza/#transcript