Also, in order to go back to a pandemic that *was* comparable to Covid-19 in scale *and* speed, you have to choose 1918. For some reason, though, this isn't cited so often in this type of argument as is 1968, perhaps because what's notable about the 1918 flu is that countries *did* react, both by implementing social distancing and quarantine measures, encouraging use of masks, closing down businesses, etc; perhaps, also, because when protests about those *did* come, and as a result people backed away, the effect was to allow a second wave to spread that was more deadly than the first.