I cannot help but wonder how President Roosevelt would have handled this situation.
During the years when polio was killing and crippling so many, President Roosevelt mobilized the entire country -- the entire world, in fact -- to fight this scourge (then popularly known as "infantile paralysis" because it seemed to target the young).
He did this much as he lifted the country from the Great Depression of a previous administration.
-- He recognized the problem immediately (perhaps because polio affected him personally).
-- He responded in a way that involved every segment of the economy. And this was during the time of WWII!
-- He heard and heeded the scientists and the others whose expertise he recognized and valued.
-- He mobilized everyone - men, women, boys and girls.
To do this, among other things, he started the March of Dimes to get EVERYONE involved in this effort.
The March of Dimes funded the first successful vaccine against Polio, the Salk Vaccine. (The live Sabin vaccine used today came later).
And most remarkably, he managed all of this from a wheelchair!
All of this while fighting WWII, developing the atomic weaponry which ended that war, and putting safeguards into our economy for which we can be thankful today.
True, he was elected to four terms to do all of this. He served from 1933 to 1945 (before the 1951 limitation on presidential terms under the 22nd Amendment to the U. S. Constitution).
Certainly people may agree or disagree with some of President Roosevelt's methods.
That said, I sure wish he was with us today!
March of Dimes continues today in the fight against COVID-19
https://www.marchofdimes.org
And here's a bit more history:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_of_Dimes
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/franklin-roosevelt-founds-march-of-dimes
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