A few thoughts while awaiting coronavirus:
— The only time I have had similar health concerns was in the early 1950s when polio was so pervasive.
The debilitating virus had been around for decades. In 1952, it reached epic proportions: 58,000 cases in the U.S. and 3,145 deaths.
That October, Jerine Puckett of rural Humboldt contracted polio at age 16.
Though most cases weren’t severe; Jerine’s was. She was placed in an iron lung to help her breathe.
My mother, and many others, brightened her days with holiday and birthday cards and her parents arranged her confinement so she could look outdoors.
Another victim lived east of town. We liked to take drives in the country and when going past the house, I was told to roll up my window to block any chance the virus reached me.
As I recall, homeowners were required to display signs alerting visitors they housed a polio victim.
During the 1952 outbreak I was 9 and very conscious of how I might suffer if infected. Much like coronavirus, the polio virus was transmitted by contact as well through germs spread by coughs and sneezes. Relief came in 1955 with the Salk vaccine. In more recent years, vaccination efforts by Rotary International, including Iola Rotarians, have all but eliminated polio worldwide.
— Two flu viruses caused much dismay in years past.
In 1918, 500 million — better than 25 percent of the world population — were infected by the Spanish flu and 50 million died; some revised estimates have put the fatality number much higher.
The flu pandemic may have saved the life of my grandfather, Sherman Oliphant.
In 1918, Gen. Sherman’s battalion was at Camp Funston (now Fort Riley) preparing to join the American Expeditionary Force in France for World War I.
The Spanish flu then hit. Many soldiers took ill and by the time the outfit was at full strength and ready to ship out the war had ended, on Nov. 11, 1918.
I don’t think Sherman, a rangy, raw-bone native of southeast Missouri, was affected.
