Letter to the Editor: Why Can’t We Solve the Problem of COVID-19?

I am 68 years old, and this is my fourth pandemic. I was sick only once, and that was with the H1N1 strain of 2009. The Asian Flu/H2N2 came out of Singapore in 1957, and 10 years later, that mutated strain gave rise to a less stringent character known as the Hong Kong Flu in 1968. I have no recollection of that flu, but I was 16 years old and not interested in watching the news yet.

I was only five when the Asian Flu rode into town in the summer of 1957. I don’t remember much about that either, but I do remember that I went to kindergarten that fall; Daddy continued to go to work every day; and no one was wearing those scary masks. 

By fall, a vaccine had been developed and tested in clinical trials, and 30 million Americans elected to take it (our population at the time was approximately 172 million, versus about 328 million today). The pandemic was over at some point in 1958. An estimated 20 million Americans had contracted the illness, with 116,000 deaths in the U.S. and 1.1 million globally.

Two children died in California on April 23, 2009, of a virus heretofore never seen. Before the week was up, we were working on a vaccine. By July, it was announced that a vaccine was ready to start clinical trials in August. By September, the vaccine was approved and available to any American who wanted to take it. By December, new cases were on the decline, and the pandemic was considered on its way out by January 2010. 

There were only 248,000 fatalities due to H1N1 worldwide. No masks, no physical distancing, no businesses shuttered or schools closed. We got on the problem, solved it and moved on.

What is the problem with COVID-19? We’ve done this before. It’s not “unprecedented” by any means. I know what the problem is. You see if you can figure it out.

Sharon Thill

Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin