Five Ways To Survive Previous Outbreaks. Also valid today

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Humanity is immune. Over the centuries, we have experienced global pandemics that have wreaked havoc and decimated societies. Despite difficult times, we learned to draw conclusions and perfected our survival strategies. Here are five ways that have helped people adapt to life during disease outbreaks.

1. The invention of the quarantine can be attributed to the authorities of Ragusa (today’s Dubrovnik), which in 1377, fearing the introduction of bubonic plague to their territory, ordered isolation before entering the city
2. The epidemics in Italian towns forced wine sellers to change the distribution of goods. Thanks to the small windows that formed in the walls of the houses, they could serve customers and at the same time keep their distance
3. The face masks, which are now endlessly debated, were popular during the plague outbreak, though they didn’t quite serve their purpose. During the Spanish epidemic, the message was clear: wearing a mask is a patriotic duty
4. The discovery by Pasteur and his colleagues that pathogens invisible to the naked eye are responsible for disease has revolutionized the way people think about hygiene. In the houses, special washbasins were installed by the door, so that anyone who crossed the threshold could wash their hands immediately
5. Previous pandemics and epidemics have also made us learn to use fresh air better. Thanks to the transfer of lessons to the outside world, the tuberculosis epidemic that was raging in the United States has been brought under control to some extent.
6. You can find more such stories on the TvoiLokony home page

Quarantine as a way to stop the transmission

The first quarantine was implemented in the port city of Ragusa (today’s Dubrovnik) on July 27, 1377. It took place during the bubonic plague pandemic, known as the Black Death. Ragusa’s authorities have decided: «Those arriving from plague-infected areas will not enter Ragusa or its county, unless they spend a month in the Islet of Mrkan or the city of Cavtat for disinfection“. Even then, doctors saw that the spread of the Black Death could be slowed down by isolating sick or potentially infected people.

Initially, the quarantine took place outside, but the weather conditions were so unfavorable that they endangered the lives of people staying there. So the government decided to build wooden houses for people in quarantine. Why wooden? Because in the event of an epidemic, it is easier to burn them.

In the mid-XNUMXth century, quarantine sites became complex institutions employing a scribe, two guards, a gravedigger, two cleaners, and then even a priest and a hairdresser.

Quarantine also played a large role during the outbreak of the Spanish flu pandemic in the United States in 1918. In San Francisco, soldiers who arrived in the country after returning from World War I fronts were quarantined. In San Francisco and St. Louis, social gatherings were forbidden, and schools and theaters were closed for a while.

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Remote controlled sales

Internet sales of goods increased significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic. The temporary closure of shopping malls, restaurants, cinemas and other establishments meant that the trade moved to the network. Our favorite restaurants offered take-away food, drop off or pickup on site, with precautionary measures in order to survive the closing time.

The Italians discovered how to safely sell their goods during the plague in 1629, during the plague epidemic in that country. Wealthy people in Tuscany came up with a brilliant way to sell the contents of their cellars without getting in contact with other residents. Narrow windows appeared in the apartments, through which sellers passed goods to buyers. Contact with the client was limited as much as possible, which also resulted in limiting the transmission of pathogens.

During the COVID-19 pandemic in Florence, more than 150 wineries that sold their products in this way 400 years ago reopened windows and served customers wine, coffee and ice cream.

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Face masks that have evolved over the course of successive pandemics

Plague outbreaks will forever be associated with modern people with the beak-shaped masks worn by doctors. The long beaks had their advantages – they helped to keep the distance between the doctor and the patient and at least partially covered the mouth and nose. Unfortunately, they did not help as expected. At that time, doctors believed in the theory that disease spreads through odors, which is why the mouths of the masks were filled with intensely fragrant herbs. Their smell did not protect against contamination.

During the Spanish pandemic of 1918, face masks, mostly made of several layers of gauze or other material, became a common means of reducing transmission of the virus among the public. This does not mean, however, that everyone willingly and voluntarily agreed to cover their mouth and nose. As during the pandemic in 2020, there were anti-mask movements that disagreed with the authorities’ recommendations.

Officials in various ways tried to encourage people to wear masks. They argued, for example, that wearing a mask is a patriotic duty. In October 1918, an announcement appeared in the San Francisco Chronicale informing readers that “any man, woman or child who refuses to wear the mask is dangerous idlers.” The message of the American Red Cross was clear: “Wear the mask and save your life.”

You can buy a set of FFP2 filtering masks at an attractive price at medonetmarket.pl

See also: Anti-mask movements during the Spanish pandemic. Shootings, arrests and special masks for women

Proper hygiene that has not always been taken for granted

— It’s a little worrying that the WHO needs to remind the world to wash their hands after using the toilet, before or after preparing a meal and in other obvious situations – said at the beginning of the pandemic in an interview with Medonet, MSc. Aleksandra Szuplewska, PhD student at the Faculty of Chemistry, Warsaw University of Technology.

It is hard to disagree with this statement, because while washing hands in order to limit the spread of diseases should not be anything extraordinary today, at the beginning of the XNUMXth century it was something new. In order to prevent the spread of pathogens, there were special bathrooms in the houses located right at the entrance, which were used by the suppliers of all goods – coal, milk or ice.

The germ theory was a relatively new concept disclosed in the mid-nineteenth century by Louis Pasteur, Joseph Lister and Robert Koch. She argued that diseases are caused by microorganisms invisible to the naked eye. The wash basins at the entrance to the house naturally “forced” you to wash your hands upon return.

Being outdoors

Apparently, in 1665, young Isaac Newton was forced to leave the University of Cambridge, where he was studying for a while, because of the outbreak of the plague. Newton returned to his family farm and it is said that it was on this farm that he witnessed the alleged falling apple that inspired the development of the law of universal gravitation. History shows that the breaks in science caused by epidemics are not new.

During the tuberculosis epidemic in the US at the beginning of the 450th century, in which up to XNUMX people died a day, being outdoors prevented transmission of the pathogen.

By 1918, more than 130 open-air schools had been established in American cities. The Americans saw this idea in the Germans, who reportedly pioneered the concept of open-air schools. The idea of ​​spending time outdoors instead of in overcrowded homes inspired city planners to create more green spaces to promote public health.

When public schools in Chicago and New York resumed their activities during the second wave of the Spanish epidemic in 1918, health experts explained that children were cared for better at school than at home. The then health commissioner told the New York Times that “[Children] leave their often unsanitary homes and go to large, clean, airy school buildings that always have an inspection system in place.”

Zobacz: During the Spanish epidemic, children returned to school. How did it end?

Scientists predict that there will be more epidemics of infectious diseases from animals in the coming years. «Due to the situation in the world, we will most likely be infected with animals in the future. Zoonoses will start causing epidemics. Increased population density, more frequent travel, deforestation all increase the likelihood of an outbreak, “said Professor Sarah Gibert, a member of the team working on developing the COVID-19 vaccine, in an interview with The Independent.

Faced with such a future, it is worth remembering about the methods that can effectively protect us against infection and help reduce the transmission of the pathogen. As we can see from previous pandemics, history repeats itself.

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