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Let's have a thought experiment called Covid 61: first shows in Asia in late 1961 and spreads to the U.S. in the year 1962. Yes, I know travel was much more limited then but it still could have made it's way to the U.S. with a a patient zero through a flight from Hong Kong to L.A. and that patient attends a huge superspreader event spreading it in the community. JFK was president (the year before he got assassinated) and TV is restricted to 3 channels for a few hours in the evening with just a few minutes of news: people mainly get their news through radio, newspapers and magazines. How do you think the much loved JFK and the U.S. government would have handled it? How would common people react? Would it have been "no big deal" with life going on as usual or do you still think JFK would have put in some national measures to mitigate the spread of Covid 61?
From what I read, people continued life as normal in 1968 and nothing was closed. Was it because it wasn't perceived as severe or was the culture then much more willing to take risks in then?
1962 was my high school graduation year.
People simply didn't move around as much or as far as they do now.
I think that if Covid had stuck in 1962, the spread of the virus would have been much slower- over many months- and would have been much more concentrated in the large population centers.
There would have been a few states that had no infection at all on the first wave of the virus.
In 1962, the children who had lived through the last great Spanish Flu epidemic that lasted from 1920 to 1928 were only in their 40s and 50s, so if a mask order was issued, it would have been obeyed with no questioning, as would social distancing.
People were already afraid of a nuclear war, so quarantine would have been next to complete as soon as it was ordered, but it would have been different.
Because so many folks had already habitually stocked up from the fear of nuclear outbreak, there wouldn't have been any panic rushes to buy toilet paper or anything else.
Back then, the first wave of the virus would have never peaked as high as it did today, so folks would have not shut down so completely; most businesses would have remained open with fewer sanitation measures taken.
Back then, most vital business was done with some kind of barrier between the clerk and the customer, so there would have been less precaution while doing business.
People were far more sociable than they are now, so if anyone became ill, the entire neighborhood would know it in only a couple of hours at most, and that neighborhood would have buttoned up tightly. The entire town would know of it within a day and would avoid that neighborhood.
City parks would be next to empty. Everyone in quarantine would be spending far more time outside, close to their homes, than inside. Air conditioning was far less common, so even with no virus, folks spent far more time outside than inside during hot weather.
And everyone would anticipate a second wave would come, and expect it to be worse than the first, as soon as the weather turned cold. They would have expected Covid would act like the Spanish Flu did.
Back then a Health Dept. mandate was not a suggestion. It was an order, and folks obeyed it seriously. The Spanish Flu, WWII, Polio epidemics, and the Cold War conditioned everyone to obey such orders.
Everyone had already seen the consequence of disobeying in their recent past, so there would have been no arguments and very little disobeying. Folks trusted their local Health Depts. implicitly.
1962 was my high school graduation year.
People simply didn't move around as much or as far as they do now.
I think that if Covid had stuck in 1962, the spread of the virus would have been much slower- over many months- and would have been much more concentrated in the large population centers.
There would have been a few states that had no infection at all on the first wave of the virus.
In 1962, the children who had lived through the last great Spanish Flu epidemic that lasted from 1920 to 1928 were only in their 40s and 50s, so if a mask order was issued, it would have been obeyed with no questioning, as would social distancing.
People were already afraid of a nuclear war, so quarantine would have been next to complete as soon as it was ordered, but it would have been different.
Because so many folks had already habitually stocked up from the fear of nuclear outbreak, there wouldn't have been any panic rushes to buy toilet paper or anything else.
Back then, the first wave of the virus would have never peaked as high as it did today, so folks would have not shut down so completely; most businesses would have remained open with fewer sanitation measures taken.
Back then, most vital business was done with some kind of barrier between the clerk and the customer, so there would have been less precaution while doing business.
People were far more sociable than they are now, so if anyone became ill, the entire neighborhood would know it in only a couple of hours at most, and that neighborhood would have buttoned up tightly. The entire town would know of it within a day and would avoid that neighborhood.
City parks would be next to empty. Everyone in quarantine would be spending far more time outside, close to their homes, than inside. Air conditioning was far less common, so even with no virus, folks spent far more time outside than inside during hot weather.
And everyone would anticipate a second wave would come, and expect it to be worse than the first, as soon as the weather turned cold. They would have expected Covid would act like the Spanish Flu did.
Back then a Health Dept. mandate was not a suggestion. It was an order, and folks obeyed it seriously. The Spanish Flu, WWII, Polio epidemics, and the Cold War conditioned everyone to obey such orders.
Everyone had already seen the consequence of disobeying in their recent past, so there would have been no arguments and very little disobeying. Folks trusted their local Health Depts. implicitly.
The other thing to keep in mind is that technology allows certain risks to be avoided. For instance we can do zoom instead of meeting in person, some office work can be done at home, as well as colleges and schools. They couldn't do that at all.
The other thing to keep in mind is that technology allows certain risks to be avoided. For instance we can do zoom instead of meeting in person, some office work can be done at home, as well as colleges and schools. They couldn't do that at all.
True: most men worked in factory or office jobs while women stayed at home. Men would have gotten the virus at work and given it to their families even if schools were closed. I wonder how that would have played.
I have several other threads with this thought experiment transporting Covid to different hypothetical years: all under Democrat presidents in non-election years.
Didn't do one for the 1980s or 2000s because both decades were largely under republican presidents. I might do one about the 1950s or 1940s but then you had polio which people seemed to just quarantine communities locally. If you go to the pre antibiotic era, it seems that they might not have even noticed Covid just because diseases were much more common then (with a lot more young people dying despite medical treatment) and you could die of a simple infection.
Last edited by ThinkingOutsideTheBox; 09-01-2020 at 05:42 PM..
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Originally Posted by ThinkingOutsideTheBox
True: most men worked in factory or office jobs while women stayed at home. Men would have gotten the virus at work and given it to their families even if schools were closed. I wonder how that would have played.
I have several other threads with this thought experiment transporting Covid to different hypothetical years: all under Democrat presidents in non-election years.
Didn't do one for the 1980s or 2000s because both decades were largely under republican presidents. I might do one about the 1950s or 1940s but then you had polio which people seemed to just quarantine communities locally. If you go to the pre antibiotic era, it seems that they might not have even noticed Covid just because diseases were much more common then (with a lot more young people dying despite medical treatment) and you could die of a simple infection.
HOGWASH! Antibiotics have NOTHING to do with treating a virus!
How about a hypothetical Republican POTUS in 2020 who has NO plan for combatting a virus?
From what I read, people continued life as normal in 1968 and nothing was closed. Was it because it wasn't perceived as severe or was the culture then much more willing to take risks in then?
It had more to do with how tough people were than compared to the snowflakes of today. As a percentage that virus killed as many of us, but there were less people. We are just more wimpy now. I think we need to recognize that and live with it. We are going to get a lesson in the economy soon. Maybe that will help us become more tough, but I doubt it. No young person will take it on. They will just blame an older person because they are.......snowflakes.
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