An old song, “Everything Old Is New Again,” cites the circular nature of our lives. In that spirit, a flashback reprint from Levittown Now indicates that, despite the intervening 97 years, things haven’t changed much in terms of epidemic-fighting tactics.

The July 31, 1924, issue of the Bristol Daily Courier held an item from then-Medical Director Thomas W. Jackson.

With prescient insight about human nature, Jackson cited the need for unity to combat a health crisis. His advice parallels current comments from Bucks County Health Department Director Dr. David Damsker.

“Preventive medicine knows no denominational or sectarian separations,” Jackson wrote. “It desires conformance with the health laws by every citizen.”

He even nailed our modern-day desire for quick fixes.

“The warfare against disease and disease-producing conditions is perpetual. It will never be finished. There is no permanence of correct conditions unless effort be constant and continuous,” the article noted.

Jackson credited 1920s advances in limiting what he called the “filth diseases,” those resulting from the ingestion of parasites in unsanitary conditions.

But he stated that respiratory diseases — specifically measles and meningitis — would require ongoing diligence.

“Individual isolation is an efficient protection,” Jackson instructed.

Then came more epidemic-fighting tactics: “Any mechanical obstacle which intercepts the flight of droplets (such as a gauze mask) is useful.”

He also advised guarding against the receipt of “…living bacteria [transmitted by] speech, cough, sneeze, song or other vocal effort.”

Wrapping up, Jackson stated, “In all diseases propagated by spray or droplet infection, efficient surface disinfection is called for.”

And that was decades before Lysol wipes.

The full content of this still-applicable throwback advice is at Levittown Now.