Western Europe’s last major outbreak of medieval plague began in 1720, when a “mortal distemper” seized the French port city of Marseille. The disease arrived on a merchant ship called the Grand Saint Antoine, which had picked up infected passengers during a journey to the Middle East. The vessel was quarantined, but its owner—who also happened to be Marseille’s deputy mayor—convinced health officials to let him unload its cargo. Plague-carrying rat fleas soon spread across the city, sparking an epidemic. People died by the thousands, and the piles of bodies on the streets grew so large that convicts were conscripted to dispose of them. In nearby Provence, “plague walls” were even built to try to and contain the infection, but it still spilled over into southern France before finally disappearing in 1722. By then, it had killed roughly 100,000 people.
Credit to: History.com
This is what happens when people “assert their rights” in face of a threat they do not understand and for some reason ignore, reject or actually aid and abet.
One man, for financial gain, was allowed to unload his cargo – and the rats. Once the rats had the run of the city, it was all over. 100,000 people died.
Once the health care system is overwhelmed, bodies start piling up on the sidewalks. There are now first reports in the United States where care facilities for elderly are running out of room and are having to pile up bodies next to sheds.
Rats you could see. Fleas you could feel. Viruses are a million times smaller.
We are about to overwhelm our healthcare system. Books will be written in the coming years about what happened in this country in the spring of 2020, and the books will not be kind to our government and leadership. So much was wrong, so many people erred, and so much unnecessary damage was done due to ignorance, greed, and ego.
Do I have an urge to exercise my constitutional right to assemble, go to church or the movies?
I think not!