But going back to question.
Didn't channel 4 launch in 1982? So we would have the BBC , ITV and channel 4 news to watch. Plus the news papers and radio, including world news on short wave. Internet bulletin boards for any random theories you wanted to read.
But at that time, at the age I was, I didn’t watch the news so much. The spread would also be slower due to a lot less travel both at home and internatinally.
I would be coping same as now. I’m not one to worry and back then even my grandmother wouldn’t be old enough for me to worry about.
In fact many would probably cope a lot better as they wouldn’t consume mis information and news 24/7.
Lot more UK manufacturing capability then as well, as Thatcher’s policies will not have shut a lot down just yet.
Vaccine, probably years or decades away. None of the gene sequencing and computational capacity we have now,