This is from the Mayo Clinic:
1948-1955
Before a polio vaccine became available, several polio epidemics had occurred between 1948 and 1955. Many people avoided crowds and public gatherings, such as fairs, sports games and swimming pools, during this time due to concern about getting polio.
An epidemic's cause is usually an infectious agent (virus, bacteria, parasite) spreading rapidly due to factors like new introductions, mutations, or weakened host immunity, often accelerated by environmental issues (poor sanitation, water), disasters (floods), or human behaviors (overcrowding). It's the interaction between the agent (pathogen), the host (people/animals), and the environment (conditions) that allows a disease to jump from a low-level presence to a widespread outbreak in a community.
Several polio epidemics occurred and were stopped before a vaccine was even invented.
Nope, and this example proves healthcare authorities were dead on with COVID. Their practices caused the same up and down effect we saw with COVID, even more dramatic actually. You can look at the rate of the US at that time. People got infected, rates went up, people got scared, rates went down, people felt safe, rates went up, and then they got scared. It did not go away by guidelines and did not magically disappear. It was contained by safe practices which is what captain stupid didn't realize when he went to church and sang his unmasked heart out.
Epidemics are the result of unclean environmental conditions. For example, people pouring poop out of windows, or rats eating garbage on the street, or kids swimming in swimming holes that are infected. Yes, Polio is infectious, so once one kid gets it he can pass it on to others who didn't go swimming. But the way the epidemics were stopped was by cleaning up the garbage, building sanitation systems, warning about infected ponds, avoiding crowds, etc.
No, polio was transmitted in various ways. No, epidemics were not stopped and polio was not stopped by sanitation. Those are helpful in CONTAINMENT. COVID is a great example. Lock down did not end it/
You are confusing stopping an epidemic with eradicating a disease.
No, you are confusing slowing the rate of transmission with ending an epidemic. As soon as you open things up the epidemic returns.
Polio is not erradicated by changing behavior, but the widespread transmission due to environmental factors can be stopped.
That does not stop a disease, that is containment. Containment gives time save lives and destress healthcare to find a real cure. I would be very surprised that you followed any of the COVID guidelines.
For example, with Covid19 one country that had one of the very lowest rates of transmission was Taiwan. That was really surprising since on a per capita basis they probably have more interaction with China where this virus originated than any other country. The reason for their success had nothing to do with a vaccine. They did two things, they quarantined people coming into the country to see if they would get a fever and second, you could not enter a business without first taking your temperature taken to make sure you didn't have a fever. That was it. No masks, no vaccines, simply a little adjustment to your behavior and the epidemic in Taiwan was eliminated.
No vaccines? That is a flat out lie.
They got vaccinated. The reason for success in lowering until such was strictly enforcing containment. The problem with 'Merica was the attitude you have a right to be selfish and stupid. The people of Taiwan got vaccinated.
Please note all the epidemics were stopped prior to them having a licensed vaccine. That doesn't mean the vaccine didn't greatly reduce the number who got sick, but every epidemic in human history has been stopped by adjusting our behavior, not by a vaccine.
Nope. You are misusing, deliberately, epidemic and disease.