Impacts

Events During the Lifetime of People in Their Early 70's

Polio was our first experience when we were very young. Our memories are dependent on whether we knew someone who was impacted. My next door neighbor died and her brother was in a full body cast and went to school via telephone for one year. Their home was quarantined.

The table below shows deaths from major events over the past seventy years for the USA.

Years	Event	Total Died	Annualized
		(to date)	Rate
Feb 29-Aug 19, 2020	War on Covid-19	175,105	290,000
1981-2020	HIV Aids	675,000	17,308
2001-present	War in Afghanistan	1,833	96
2003-2011	Iraq War	3,836	426
Sep 11, 2001	911	2,977	2,977
1955-1975	Vietnam War	58,220	2,911
1950-1953	Korean War	33,686	8,422
1952	Polio	3,000	3,000

        *Covid-19 Annualized Rate is a guestimate based on the deaths in the first 5.5 months of the US              Pandemic, and projected to the end of 12 months. The actual number of deaths could be much                lower or higher - time will tell.

Most of us don't remember much about the Korean War unless we had a relative or family friend in the war.  We remember Vietnam very vividly since it impacted us when we were in our late teens and early twenties and since most of us knew people who died. Our high school lost 13 young men that we know about. There were likely others.

HIV/Aids was another epidemic that caused many deaths. Many people became much cautious about intimate encounters. This epidemic continues to kill large numbers of people each year. 

911 was probably the greatest shock. This shows the impact of the media. By now we have seen the videos of the planes crashing into the buildings many times.

The wars in Iraq and Aghanistan seemed to go on forever. A very sad thing.

Covid-19 is our latest impact. It is taking place when we are no longer young and are much more vulnerable. And we don't know how long it will run or whether it will become more or less lethal. 

This Too Shall Pass. 

Eventually. Probably.

References:

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

https://www.cdc.gov/nchhstp/newsroom/docs/factsheets/todaysepidemic-508.pdf

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HIV/AIDS

https://www.britannica.com/event/Afghanistan-War

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_War

https://www.history.com/news/september-11-attacks-photos

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_War

https://www.cdc.gov/polio/what-is-polio/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_War