My generation (somewhere between Baby Boom and Gen X) never worried about disease. We worried about nuclear annihiliation, but not disease. My parents and grandparents did, which is why we never had to.
Before I was born, most childhood diseases were eradicated. In the 1800s, children had difficulty living to adulthood. The major causes of death in children were tuberculosis, diarrhea of infancy, bacillary dysentery, typhoid fever. Before that, it was whooping cough, scarlet fever, yellow fever, and smallpox.
On a side note, I never would have been born in Alaska if it weren’t for tuberculosis. My aunt moved up there as a nurse to deal with an outbreak in the 50s and convinced my dad and mom to move up there.
Most Childhood Diseases Eradicated by 1960
Since then, tuberculosis has been eradicated. Polio was eradicated in the 50s as well. We got vaccinated against measles, mumps, and rubella along with polio. Sure, we got mumps and chickenpox, but those were more annoyance than life-threatening. On the whole, it was the worst we expected other than colds and flu. Even the flu was less deadly by the time I was born. It had killed millions in 1918, but just put us in bed for a day or so.
We can be thankful to our parents and grandparents that they fought diseases so stenuously and invented vaccines to prevent them.
The only exception was the AIDS pandemic in the 80s and 90s. Sadly, most of us ignored it because we believed it happened to other people. It hit the gay and minority communities hard, but for those of us with white privilege, we grew up without the threat.
Gen X and Millennials Grew Up Sheltered
Without the threat of disease, we grew up rather sheltered. This was exactly as our parents intended. On the other hand, because we were sheltered, our disease avoidance techniques have atrophied. We would cover our mouths when we coughed or sneezed, but not wash our hands afterwards.
Since the COVID-19 outbreak, I have had to relearn how to wash my hands. Baby boomers invented the large rock concert, but now I won’t go near a group of people larger than five. I wear a mask any time I leave the house or my office.
