The character The Phantom encouraged the use of face masks to protect against "sleep death" in a mysterious valley in a 1957 comic strip, but this illness was never referred to as a "China virus." In the fall of 2021, an image started to circulate on social media that supposedly showed a panel from a comic strip published in 1957, in which a hooded hero encouraged mask use to protect against the “China virus”:The words “China virus,” a xenophobic and inaccurate reference to COVID-19, did not appear in the original comic. The above-displayed image shows an altered version of a panel from the comic strip “The Phantom” that was published in August 1957. While this illness is not COVID-19 or “The China Virus,” The Phantom truly did encourage people to wear masks in order to protect themselves from illness. In fact, this comic strip was published during the 1957 flu pandemic when health officials were encouraging mask use to prevent the disease from spreading.

Source: CBC News November 22, 2021 21:42 UTC