Quote:
Originally Posted by queasy27
Okay, you start.
I'm not a sociologist, historian or epidemiologist and am unfamiliar with statistical modeling. Any theories I have would be superficial at best and crackpot at worst.
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But we can brainstorm, can't we? We often look for layperson insight on forums like these, no? And if a real pro happens to chime in, so much the better.
My reading, from the SWAGs so far, is that because we didn't have the technology to communicate and track instantly like we do now, we didn't know how serious the threat was until it was over. Plausible enough, and I thank those that offered up their thoughtful replies. When we're able to put aside our love of snark, real learning sometimes happens on these boards!
However (isn't there always a however?), I'm not sure I fully buy that explanation. First, there was some serious social distancing going on during the internet-bereft 1918 Spanish flu pandemic. Second, during the 1957 and 1968 pandemics, we didn't have the technology we have now, but scientists/epidemiologists/MDs certainly were able to communicate with each other around the world in real time. And I'd be very surprised if Health Departments around the world were not sharing information with each other, and with the WHO, which by the way was founded in 1948.
In 1968, Walter Cronkite could tell us how many Americans died in Vietnam everyday, so I'm pretty sure hospitals around the world could track and report their influenza cases too.
I hear the Villages is teeming with archivists, archeologists and epidemiologists. It would be great if they could help us unlock the mystery. Maybe the answer is simply that the world just wasn't in the mood to shut down either time. Or it just didn't occur to anyone to do so.