I, too, was a doctor, although only a humble GP for nearly 40 years before I retired, and was a schoolboy at the time of the Asian Flu pandemic in the late 1950s. By some freak of nature I was the only boy in my class of 36 who did not contract the disease. The Hong Kong flu pandemic of 1968 occurred just after I started ii GP and I remember that our practice of 4 GPs often had over 100 requests for home visits per day. (Yes, those were the days when home visiting still happened). I don't remember large numbers of deaths. Hospitals were not overwhelmed.
For me the striking thing about today's pandemic is the numbers of serious illness and deaths, and in view of my age and 50+ years of living with type 1 diabetes I have been taking sensible precautions as advised. I can't , however, condone the behaviour of groups like those Rangers fans who gathered outside Ibrox yesterday.