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It feels like this pandemic is never going to end, but history tells us something different.

Over the centuries, we’ve been faced with a number of seemingly deadly, never-ending plagues, viruses, and diseases that threatened to bring the world to its knees.

We can take some comfort in the fact that modern medicine has come a long way since people believed that illness was caused by ‘bad smells’ and needed to be cured using leeches.

At the same time, many of the methods that have proven most effective in curbing the spread of COVID-19 have been around since the late 1300s.

HISTORY looked into the lessons that we’ve learned from pandemics of the past, and how they inspired our methods for dealing with the coronavirus.

Quarantine

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The term ‘quarantine’ is derived from the Italian quarantino, meaning “40-day period”.

The first-ever quarantine enforced through law took place in the city of Ragusa (today’s Dubrovnik) on July 27, 1377, during the Bubonic Plague, or as it’s more commonly known, the Black Death.

“Those who come from plague-infested areas shall not enter [Ragusa] or its district unless they spend a month on the islet of Mrkan or in the town of Cavtat, for the purpose of disinfection.”

Doctors at the time noticed that limiting contact between people and isolating the infected could limit the spread of the disease.

Quarantine would be used to contain the Spanish flu, with large gatherings banned and schools closed when soldiers returned to their respective countries from World War I.

Physical distancing/remote food pickup

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Italy was one the countries hit hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic in the early months, but this isn’t the first pandemic that they’ve had to weather.

During the Italian Plague (1629-1631), wealthy Italian citizens devised a way to sell wine without going out into the streets by cutting “wine windows” into their homes.

The windows were just big enough to pass a bottle through, following which vinegar would be used to sterilise the buyer’s and seller’s hands and the money exchanged.

There are over 150 wine windows in Florence which were revived during the pandemic to serve customers food, coffee, and even gelato.

Masks

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During the plague, doctors wore long-nosed masks to create distance between themselves and their patients. Unfortunately, they weren’t very effective because doctors believed that the herbs they packed into the masks would prevent disease. Bubonic plague was spread through infected fleas and exposure to bodily fluids.

When the Spanish flu pandemic hit, masks became the go-to method for stopping the spread of the virus. In some parts of America, it was considered a crime to leave the house without a mask.

Those who didn’t comply were threatened with imprisonment and having their names printed in the newspapers as “mask slackers”.

The anti-maskers out there having meltdowns whenever they’re asked to cover their faces should take note.

Newspapers also printed instructions for how to make masks at home. Much like now, masks also became fashionable, with the Seattle Daily Times running an article entitled “Influenza Veils Set New Fashion” in October of 1918.

It all sounds rather familiar.

Washing hands and surfaces

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Typhoid Mary has become a household name. She was an asymptomatic carrier of the disease, who through not washing her hands before handling food, inadvertently infected many. This was the start of a drive to sanitise hands before cooking.

For those of who you don’t know about ‘ol Mary Mallon:

She was born on September 23, 1869, in Cookstown, a small village in the north of Ireland. Mallon’s hometown in County Tyrone was among one of Ireland’s poorest areas…

Mallon was presumed to have infected 51 people, and three of those illnesses resulted in death. Since she used a number of aliases, it’s possible the true death toll could have been higher.

In the early 20th century frequent handwashing was a bit of a novelty. To encourage the practice, when hygiene became a key part of stopping the spread of infections, ‘powder rooms’ were built in public places.

Fresh air and homeschooling

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The back and forth over whether or not schools should reopen has been a common theme in most countries battling COVID-19, including South Africa. This is a problem that has come up during pandemics throughout history.

In 1665, a young Isaac Newton was sent home from Cambridge University to his family’s farm following an outbreak of bubonic plague. It was on that farm that he allegedly witnessed the falling apple that led to his law of universal gravitation.

As for ‘fresh air’ – it was used to help contain the Tuberculosis outbreak in the early 1900s. Germany paved the way for open-air schools.

In America, during the Spanish flu outbreak, New York City’s health commissioner told the New York Times: “[Children] leave their often unsanitary homes for large, clean, airy school buildings, where there is always a system of inspection and examination enforced.”

What this shows us is that we’ve been preparing to take on COVID-19 for centuries, through tried and tested methods used to beat the pandemics of the past.

Even now, as we welcome alert level 2, it’s more important than ever to wash your hands, wear a mask, and maintain physical distancing.

Don’t be a mask slacker.

It’s not a good look.

[source:history]