なんでも翻訳してやるから英文持って来い 21

よろしくお願いします。
一応自分ではわかっているつもりですが、念のためここで質問して確認させて
いただきます。

https://www.transcend.org/tms/2020/03/covid-19-present-past-and-future/
上の文章中に以下の段落があります。

COVID-19 also suggests something else that is both instructive and
worrisome. We as a species react to crises when their impact is immediate
and lethal, and sometimes compensate for earlier complacency by
over-reacting when widespread fear spirals out of control to produce panic,
and in the process lurid memories of past failures are dredged from the
depths of collective consciousness. The Spanish Flu Epidemic of 1918-19 is
a current example of a past event I never heard discussed during my
childhood, or throughout my adult life, but now is on the lips of many.
While still a child this earlier flu pandemic was almost as recent then as
the 9/11 attacks are now. We forget quickly past urgencies until replaced
by new urgencies.

この文中の
While still a child this earlier flu pandemic was almost as recent then as
the 9/11 attacks are now.
の訳および「この文章で筆者の言いたいこと」の解説をお願いします。