After several years, ten to be exact, Stillwater, my coming of age novel, will be launching soon. And the timing is smack dab in the middle of the COVID19 pandemic - the worst we’ve ever seen. But Stillwater isn't only the title of my book, it's the name of the upstate New York village where I grew up in the 1950s, and strange as it seems, back then the world was hit with a pandemic too—the polio epidemic. The similarities between both of the deadly viruses and their effects are shocking.
We know firsthand how COVID19 has upended the world. We’re quarantined—trying to flatten the curve by staying safe at home, social distancing, wearing masks and washing our hands, old words with new meanings. We listen to the news twenty-four hours a day, we don’t care about Bradley Cooper or Tom Brady, we care about Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator.
Our president says we’re in a war against an invisible enemy, COVID19, and he’s right. The disease is daunting--formidable. COVID19 affects people of all ages, but the highly contagious disease is the most dangerous for seniors (that’s me) and people with pre-existing conditions. There is no prevention or cure.
The symptoms are myriad, pounding headaches, coughs, fever, chills, severe aches and pains, digestive issues, fatigue, weakness and respiratory problems. People who can’t breathe are taken to hospitals and put on ventilators; relatives aren’t allowed to be with them. The pictures of the hospitalized victims and the overwhelmed staff break my heart--they’re victims of the virus too.
In the 1950s, the polio epidemic struck. The disease targeted children and, just like COVID19, there was no prevention or cure. The initial symptoms were mild, flu like, slight fever, congestion, aches and pains, but after a short time fevers spiked, patients became weak, fatigued and developed severe respiratory issues. Back then ventilators weren’t available, children were enclosed in iron lungs, unable to move—their little heads sticking out of the large round cylinders. No family members were allowed in to comfort them. Not every child recovered, some died, some ended up in wheel chairs--partially or completely paralyzed.
Polio, like COVID19, was thought to be airborne, but because it attacked during the summer people were afraid it might be waterborne. Beaches and pools were closed. People didn’t dare drink from water fountains or, God forbid, go to the movies. Adults were leery about handling paper money and shaking hands, they avoided getting close to each other, they hoped and prayed for a cure.
On April 12th, 1955, they got one. Researchers Jonas Salk and Albert Sabine came up with successful vaccines. President Eisenhower brought Salk to the White House and tearfully thanked him for saving the children of the world. Parents breathed a sigh of relief, schoolchildren like me lined up in their auditoriums for polio shots, and eventually the country went back to normal.
My grandfather used to tell me to look at the past to predict the future. I believe that vaccines will be developed that eliminate COVID19, that our country will go back to normal, maybe a new normal, but we’ll go on.
(In the meantime, I have to stop baking cookies and figure out a way to market my book while I’m quarantined. Any ideas?)