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An Anonymous Coward writes:

As the threat of additional community spreading of the coronavirus in the US grows, at least some people are recommending large-scale quarantines in American cities [nytimes.com]. There is precedent for this with the 1918-1919 Spanish flu and evidence that it was effective at curbing fatalities. Cities like St. Louis, Kansas City, Milwaukee, and San Francisco implemented strict quarantines early during the spread of infections [nytimes.com] and experienced lower fatality rates than cities that waited to impose quarantines. The quarantine in St. Louis was particularly notable because it was one of the top ten largest cities in the US at that time. On October 5, 1918, St. Louis ordered a wide range of measures being proposed currently for mitigating the coronavirus [stltoday.com] such as closing schools and other public places and many businesses. In factories producing supplies for the war, doctors were vigilant to quickly isolate anyone with flu-like symptoms [stltoday.com]. The quarantine was briefly lifted in late November leading to a spike in infections, resulting it in quickly being reimposed through December 10. The St. Louis quarantine is credited with preventing a much larger number of deaths and had the lowest fatality rate among major US cities.

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