I am currently researching the cultural and social impact of the 1918 Influenza pandemic in Dayton. In my essay, I will be focusing on the anxiety Daytonians experienced about dying. This resulted in people trying the various medicines that were being proposed in the Dayton area. This made people turn to different ways that they could cope. Churches, theaters and saloons was where people turned to look for a place to forget about what was going on, or to just get out of their house. Once rules were being implemented to close these places down, negative reactions arose. People did not want to comply with the demands of masks, so they were forced to close. The resistance of the public, not just in Dayton, but everywhere in the United States, caused negative outcomes. Crime rates spiked and people were arrested for not following demands. During these intense times, there was not just negativity, but there are many accounts of positivity as well. This included, humor in the form of poems, songs, or even love for each other signified how rough this time was. Daytonians had many anxieties about the influenza and this had caused many negative and positive reactions.