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It was the only such event in most people's lifetimes.
by array_key_first 1y ago
It was the only such event in most people's lifetimes.
- jcranmer 1y agoWe've had, in this century, SARS, swine flu, MERS, ebola (× like 4), mpox (×2 apparently), Zika virus, and COVID-19. AIDS is a pandemic that's been going on since before I was born. Pandemics and pandemic scares are really friggin' common.
- monooso 1y agoSeveral of those were not pandemics (I assume this is why you used the phrase "pandemic scares" as a catch-all). Regardless of official classification, I don't recall any of them having anywhere near the same global impact as COVID.
- AlexandrB 1y agoHow many of those resulted in worldwide lockdowns, masking mandates, and widespread testing requirements for travel? I believe the answer is: 1. This is a very pedantic counter argument that leans on the fact that "pandemic" has too broad of a definition. There was nothing else like COVID in my (40 year) lifetime.
- jcranmer 1y agoHalf of them have, actually. The COVID response was heavily based off of the SARS response. The major difference with COVID is that it's the first time first world countries were asked to employ standard public health responses in many decades.
- ben_w 1y ago> The major difference with COVID is […] Those are, obviously to me as a different reader, the entire point.