Southern Oregon Historical Society looks back at the Spanish Flu

MEDFORD, Ore. – The Southern Oregon Historical Society is going back in time to inform people on a previous pandemic. A little over 100 years ago the world and the Rogue Valley, was rocked by the Spanish Flu.

Now, the historical society is going on social media to showcase it’s collection from that time period. While it may have been a century ago the organization says there were similarities on how people reacted to the pandemic, especially when it came to a statewide mask mandate.

“The owner of the Mann’s Dept. Store was adamantly opposed to it. Here he was a business owner not going to comply. And he made his opposition known,” said Kira Lesley, Archivist of the Southern Oregon Historical Society.

SOHS says people were even fined up to $10 dollars that’s equivalent to about $170 today, if they refused to wear a mask in public. You can see its entire digital exhibit on the SOHS Facebook and Instagram page.