As Chaw suggests, it's a great metaphor for all kinds of global horrors (pandemic, climate change, fascism, genocide), in that each generation tries to pass on warnings about what to do or not to do to stop the spread, but, if the previous attempts were successful at all, the next generation starts to view that received knowledge as outdated folksy superstition that doesn't apply to us, not now. Maybe the threat isn't even real, OK? Or maybe we can just do obvious simple things to stop it?