PALLETS , COMIC BOOKS AND QUARANTINES

         'The Reverend' Charlie Gray pronounced it "Polo", like the equestrian sport.  Charlie was a self-appointed evangelist in our area in the late 1940's and 50' and prone to overbearing self-importance, at least to my adolescent reckoning.  But those are perhaps stories for another time.

    He was referring to poliomyelitis usually modified to polio or,  more rarely, infantile paralysis, though adults were also afflicted.  Probably the most notable adult to be stricken and partially paralyzed was the later-to-be President of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt.  FDR was thereafter unable to walk with out assistance and wore leg braces.

    The villainous virus had been a recurrent terror for several centuries.  According to one source, the United States first case occurred in 1894 and the last in 1979.  Between those dates, summertime outbreaks terrorized many parents of young children. Most infected persons survived ; yet many experienced either temporary  or permanent paralysis and death was not uncommon. A common visual at the time were children in  'Iron Lungs' , respiratory machines.

    My own childhood and adolescence occurred during horrendous epidemics of this illness of unknown origins and causes.  According to Wikipedia, with 58,000 + cases and 3,145 reported deaths and 21,000 + paralytics, the outbreak of 1952 was the single worst year in  U.S. history.

    In North Carolina, 1944 strained the medical world's ability to provide extensive effective response for the 861 reported cases.  Then came the disruptions of 1948:  2516 reported cases.  Not knowing how to combat an illness of unknown causes, parents and other 'experts' relied upon         common sense prevention . . . rest, unnecessary exertion and good nutrition.

    While my friends and I experienced no formal quarantine,  social contact was reduced and  afternoon leisure was mandated.  My wife recalled that she and her family had to lie down in the afternoon to rest.  For my younger brother and me, there  were long afternoons on a pallet that mom put down for us on the screened in back porch.  And there were stacks of comic books and lots of soda and iced tea.  'Baby brother' , having just been born at the end of May, was kept inside the house.

    A Raleigh radio station,WNAO, (later WKIX) did its part to keep us entertained with programs of music, contests, etc.  A favorite was a kind of 'name that tune' wherein the host would choose a random number from our submitted postcards and call us to identify the just-played selection.   One day the host said  'we're calling 4501' (yep, just four digits) in my hometown. If we answered correctly, the prize was a $2 starter for a $25 government savings bond.  Consolation prize was $1 in cash. Well, i didn't know the song and asked my mom who was sitting nearby.
"The Yankees are Coming", she guessed (incorrectly). Instead it was the Scottish tune, "The Campbells are Coming". So I took my prize to the local post office and began my investment in a savings bond.

   In1955,  my high school Junior year, Principal C. H. McGregor called the student body into the auditorium to announce that Dr. Jonas Salk's research had  produced an effective inoculation against polio. Too late for at least two students at our school. Both thereafter walked only with a cane or crutches   Again, based on online 'research', I read that the last case in the US occurred in 1979, though  it remains in other parts of the world.

     Currently, health authorities predict that we are on the cusp of a public health crisis of epic proportions. Among the many challenges facing humankind is how to be attentive to our own well-being without being callous to others.  There will be times to 'lie on our pallets and read comics' and other times to find ways to be kind and humane to others.

  If I had those classic 10 cent comic books now, I could likely subsidize a lot of Coronavirus research and treatment.

    Satchel