And I seem to remember something recently about a new variant of Polio. My other grandmother had polio as a child and struggled walking her whole life from it. And she was one of the lucky ones.
I’ve heard horror stories about polio from older relatives. You’re probably right about the evening news angle. Polio sounds distant. If you give the headline “A mutated killer cold? Find out at 11.” you’ll have the attention of a few people. It doesn’t matter what the reality is.