One of the more recent pandemics to hit the UK in a pre-digital age was HIV/AIDS. The misinformation, rumours, prejudice, and lack of government urgency seem to ring very true today (what was that much mis-remembered Twain quote about history never repeating though it does echo?)
It's worth going back over how the general population reacted to HIV/Aids to see what happens when communication from government struggles to deal with a population initially unwilling to change their behaviour, or unwilling to accept that their actions could spread a disease for which there was, at the time, no known medication.
Scientific advice was, I dare say, heeded without quite so much scepticism then. The Internet has not been the best place to have a reasoned discussion about the necessity to follow science, not scare stories or conspiracy theories.
In more seriousness, having the likes of YouTube and Netflix to keep the kids entertained for hours on end has been a true blessing!
Oh I think if COVID-89 had been a thing, only having Blockbuster video and four channels would have resulted in a very different attitudes towards staying inside to restrict the spread of a respiratory disease. BUT saying that, with fewer distractions and longer concentration spans, following scientific advice to stay inside wouldn't have perhaps been so hard to follow.
One for the fiction writers, perhaps, or alternative history websites. Can anyone here answer "What would Thatcher have done?"