In an effort to control the spread of the "Spanish" flu in Chicago, the health commission and the chief of police issued orders on 3 October 1918 directing police to arrest violators of the spitting ordinance as well as every person found coughing or sneezing without using a handkerchief. All offenders caught were to be taken directly into court. In the city-wide campaign the police paid special attention to locations that attracted crowds, such as theaters, moving-picture shows, and courtrooms.

Source: "Drastic Rule in Chicago," in Medicine and Health Care, edited by Saul Jarcho and Gene Brown (New York: Arno, 1977), p. 29.

Sources:

Alfred W. Crosby Jr., Epidemic and Peace, 1918 (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1976);

Richard Harrison Shryock, The Development of Modern Medicine: An Interpretation of the Social and Scientific Factors Involved (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1936);

"Spanish Influenza Much Like Grippe...