I remember, when I was a child in elementary school, how terrifying polio was. According to Wikipedia, the U.S. experienced severe outbreaks of 58,000 cases in 1952 and 35,000 cases in 1953, just as I entered first grade. Deaths in those years numbered 3,200 and 1,400. I don’t need Wikipedia to remind me that even for those who survived, the recovery often took a very long time with effects that looked like they would last a lifetime. Pictures of children my age quarantined in huge iron lungs made the disease a horrible reality to me, as did my parents’ fear of my ever using a public pool or swimming hole....
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