We're in a different world than 1918 or even 30 years ago. Hygiene is at a whole different level. Did people even brush their teeth daily yet in 1918? Did they wash their hands at all?
Buncha tadoo over nothing imho...
Yes they did ... however, people living in rural areas (and America was much more rural then) not as frequently because they didn't have running water. You heated your water on the stove, or dipped it from a water holder on the side of the iron stoves of the day. My grandmother, the wife of a minister, died in the flu epidemic of 1918. She came into contact with it while tending sick parishioners ... my grandfather (the minister) survived, living to the ripe old age of 96.