Protesters indeed rallied against the mandates the government was applying. However, once the government gave in and lifted these mandates the flu did not just magically disappear in fact cases spiked again causing them to release a new mandate. NBC puts it like this "The mandates were largely effective, although city officials, believing the worst was behind them, lifted restrictions. But a spike in cases after the New Year in 1919 prompted the Board of Supervisors to re-enact the mandatory mask ordinance."(NBC 2020) This only lasted a few months until the protesters became too much, and they had to remove the restrictions again. Like last time the flu didn't magically disappear, "Weeks later, the city's mayor rescinded the mask order after the persistent protests. In the end, the city recorded 45,000 cases and more than 3,000 deaths from fall 1918 to winter 1919, according to research by the Center for the History of Medicine."(NBC 2020) Even though protests did cause the Government to reform its mandates the flu did not magically disappear it was still very detrimental to lots of families.
