The main difference would be that the world today is far more interconnected than it was 50 years ago. In the 1960s, people did not travel long distances with the frequency they do today and information did not travel with the speed it does now.

Living in a 'global community' means that what happens in one country impacts the entire globe. A Covid-19 outbreak in Italy quickly spread around the whole of Europe and everyone was watching what was happening in Lombardy. We can watch the infection rate and death toll in different countries in a way that didn't exist 15 years ago and compare them to our own, updating on an almost hourly basis.

Because of such things as the Internet, cellular communication, and relatively cheap and accessible air travel, economies and employment markets today have changed massively in the last half-century. It's almost impossible to compare one pandemic with another.

When I post this comment, it's available to read by almost anyone anywhere on the planet – things like this simply didn't happen in 1970.