1720 Plague vs COVID-19

This account of the advent and course of plague at Marseilles in 1720 highlights the full impact of plague on this prosperous city, the most important port of France. It likewise echoes many of the elements known from plague epidemics elsewhere in Europe in the medieval and early modern period.

In 1720, a ship was quarantined at the port in Marseille because a strange infection was killing people on the ship. Deputy Mayor of Marseille lifted the quarantine to “help the economy” and then 100,000 people died.

More than half of Marseille died. This was the Great Plague of Marseille.

The govt of Marseille felt they could not afford to lose all the valuable goods on the ship as it will destroy the economy. As they lifted the quarantine and moved the goods into the city of Marseille, they moved in the infection. More than half of Marseille citizens died.

Marseille is a major port city in the south of France. Just as Lagos in the south of Nigeria.

By the end of the Great Plague of Marseille, the city of Marseille had 50,000 dead people (out of a total 90,000 population back then). That is like 10 million people dying in Lagos.

The ship left Sidon in Lebanon, picked up people at Tripoli, and Cyprus which already had infection outbreak. A Turkish man on the ship got infected first and died, then several sailors died. The ship’s surgeon also died. As the ship got to Marseille, doctors quarantined it.

Now because Marseille had a very huge trading arrangement with “Levant” (a term for countries like Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Cyprus, Turkey, Israel, Jordan, and Palestine); the govt was convinced by businessmen that the quarantine on the ship has to be removed and the goods released.

Some powerful businessmen led by the deputy mayor of Marseille (who was also the owner of the ship) convinced his friends in government to release the quarantine. Some merchants needed the cotton and silk cargo on the ship to do business for the upcoming festival in Beaucaire.

It was only a matter of days later. The infection broke out in the whole of Marseille and people started dropping dead. They died so much that there were no longer enough graves to bury them. Dead bodies littered the streets of Marseille. Till date, the people of Marseille remember this story.

Apparently what happened was:

The govt tried to be clever. They told themselves “we will only move the silk and cotton on the ship into the city but not the infected people on the ship.” In moving the goods, they unknowingly moved infected rats which then infected people.

As people got infected, they infected one another. At a point, the govt of France built a wall to stop Marseille from infecting the rest of the country.

But it was late. 10,000 people from Marseille already ran into neighbouring cities. 50,000 people died outside of Marseille.

The Great Plague of Marseille lasted about 3 years. Those were horrible years in Marseille and in France.

Hospitals got overwhelmed and residents fled their homes. dead bodies were lying and decaying on the streets. As the infection spread nobody cared about the economy.

The Great Plague of Marseille is a huge warning to governments to never prioritise the “economy” ahead of human lives and public health. It can be a very costly mistake.

We can always rebuild the economy but we can never revive the dead.

COVID-19

COVID-19 is an infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) which erupted in Wuhan in Dec 2019. It has since then spread globally resulting as a pandemic. As of 12 May 2020, more than 4.17 million cases have been reported across 187 countries and territories, resulting in more than 286,000 deaths.

The world went under lockdown since the virus was declared a pandemic, Pakistan also taking the precautionary measure imposed country-wide lockdown in March which extended till the 11th of May 2020. Now the lockdown has been removed and the people have come out of their isolation.

As the lockdown is being relaxed, a trend is observed among people, who are being careless enough and beginning to crowd public places, shops markets and available transport.

Although the government has removed the lockdown and opened many of the sectors keeping in view the falling economy of the country, we as humans must take precautionary measures.

For this evil little ball there is no such thing as herd immunity, personal piety, goodness or brilliance. It just harvests scalps and carries human beings as battle trophies to the memorial hall of disaster and mindless destruction.

Any carelessness and Corona will have the last laugh. We don’t want to have the same fate as the people of Marseille faced, a pandemic should be taken as a serious threat and for our own personal well being, we need to continue to take certain safety measures.

Stay in your house, until it is absolutely necessary to leave, and if you do leave, wear a mask and gloves don’t forget to wash your hands repeatedly. To stop history from repeating itself and seeing dire consequences, we need to handle the situation at hand wisely and think for the betterment of the community as a whole.

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