> The problem is that the west has nobody in power with living memory of a pandemic. [...] there hasn't been a pandemic in the west in over 100 years... Recent

> The problem is that the west has nobody in power with living memory of a pandemic. [...] there hasn't been a pandemic in the west in over 100 years... Recent counter-example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_flu_pandemic https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_flu_pandemic https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_flu_pandemic_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_flu_pandemic_in_the_Unite... Key stats: * global cases: 700 million - 1.4 billion * global deaths: 150,000–575,000 * US cases: 60.8 million * US deaths: 12,469 A few more counter-examples can be found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_epidemics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_epidemics (Edit: added key stats)