Public Health Tips

The CDC and the WHO have some pretty simple recommendations to help stop the spread of COVID-19. None of these precautions are new or difficult, so we thought we’d help remind you how you can stay healthy with a few posters preaching the exact same practices over the past hundred years.

Prevention Tip 1: Clean your hands often and thoroughly

Top Left: Wash Your Hands Before Eating, Designer Unknown, c. 1955
Top Right: Wash Your Hands, Designer Unknown, c. 1943
Bottom Left: Wash Your Hands Often, Seymour Nydorf, 1944
Bottom Right: Paper Is Good But Hand Washing Is Better, c. 1945

(all images c/o Rare Historical Photos)

Prevention Tip 2: Don’t touch your face, mouth, or eyes

Finger Licking, Railways Studios, c. 1955
(image c/o Ali Express)

Prevention Tip 3: Cover your coughs and sneezes

Right: Careless Sneezing, Railways Studios, c. 1955
(image c/o Ali Express)

Left: The British Public Is Not To Be Sneezed At, Designer Unknown, 1942
(image c/o Julia Santen Gallery)

Left: A Handkerchief In Time, Designer Unknown, c. 1942
Right: Cover Coughs Cover Sneezes, Designer Unknown, c. 1944

(images c/o Pinterest)

Left: Halt The Epidemic, Hanlon, c. 1918
(image c/o Reddit)

Right: Coughs and Sneezes Spread Diseases, Henry Mayo Bateman, c. 1941
(image c/o Swann Galleries)

Prevention Tip 4: Practice social distancing and avoid close contact

Right: Tuberculosis, Designer Unknown, c. 1933
(image c/o The Daily Mail)

Left: Prevent Disease, HJH, c. 1918
(image c/o Twitter)

Prevention Tip 5: Even if you don’t show symptoms, you may have been exposed. Don’t be arrogant and assume you aren’t a carrier.

Healthy Looks Can Hide Tuberculosis, Walleem, c. 1933
(image c/o Pinterest)

Prevention Tip 6: Stay home if you’re sick

Left: Listen To That Cough, Designer Unknown (Mather), 1928
(image c/o Swann Galleries)

Right: Obey The Rules Of Health, Designer Unknown, c. 1932
(image c/o Library of Congress)

We’re all in this together. No one is immune. You or a loved one can get sick. Please, care for others and follow these guidelines.

Health, Designer Unknown, c. 1900

(image c/o Swann Galleries)