How would the pandemic have been treated if it happened 50 years ago?

It is perhaps the perspective of more elderly people, but what i hear often since the start of the pandemic is: "50 years ago, this would only be mentioned in the newspapers as an uncommon severe flu season... for this mortality rate in old people there would not have been any lockdown"

So... what do you think how this all would have played out if it happened 50 years ago?