Of Plagues and Lockdowns Past

In his account of the year 1606 in English history, James Shapiro writes of the resurgence of plague in London in July of that year. With plague deaths in excess of 40 a week, the theatres were closed, including that of Shakespeare's company, the Kings Men, who lowered the flag at the Globe and locked the playhouse doors.

Under the applicable regulations, those in a household with an infected person were compelled to remain at home in quarantine. Those caught escaping from a quarantined house

who did not have the marks of plague on them could be whipped and those with visible plague sores were guilty of a felony and subject to execution.

Which makes the practice in Wuhan of enforcing quarantines by nailing up doors with two-by-fours seem mild in comparison.

Recession Social Distancing: Source

By the fall, the Lord Mayor of London, like Covid-encumbered Donald Trump today, faced accusations of failing to take "meet care in repressing the contagion of the plague."

Among those inadequate measures, the City had ordered that doors of infected households be painted with a red cross. However, it was said that too many were washing the paint off, prompting the Lord Mayor to promise the use of oil-based, not water-based, paint in the future.

By October, the death rate was averaging over 150 a week and diplomats, including the Venetian Ambassador, were departing. In response to the growing crisis, the Lord Mayor promised to expel beggars from the city, and to post watchmen outside every infected house, thereby "suffering no person to go more out of the said house."

Meantime, those attending on the sick, which is to say the UberEats and GrubHub of the day, were required to carry a yard-long red stick, thereby to prompt other users of the public space to social distance.

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