Well one difference that you could say is the political division that takes a toll on people during an epidemic/pandemic. Many communities treat certain diseases or global viruses as a political debate- creating groups of anti government- anti protections- anti epidemic/pandemic etc. There’s a lot of rebellion within our community today.
Something they have in common (using our current pandemic in comparison) is the 1918 swine flu. There was research including respiratory transmission, causing people to wear and promote mask wearing, similar to today, it almost caused a new in pop culture at the time.
