From Apollo’s Arrow: The Profound and Enduring Impact of Coronavirus on the Way We Live pg 226-227:
It was this cumulative culture that allowed us to teach each other things about how to cope with the pandemic when it first struck. Even if people had forgotten or did not know what to do, the knowledge was still available for rapid activation. And we had established mechanisms—universities, books, chat rooms—for sharing knowledge. Information spread at lightning speed around the world about properties of the virus, about how to control it, and about how to care for its victims. Dozens of studies were put online by Chinese scientists as early as January. And this was all in addition to books we could read about how our ancestors had coped with other devastating plagues in the past.
Mark Carrigan 