The Briefing Room

General Category => Health/Education => Topic started by: Fishrrman on May 26, 2020, 02:02:04 pm

Title: Considering history, COVID-19 is hardly a plague
Post by: Fishrrman on May 26, 2020, 02:02:04 pm
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/may/25/considering-history-covid-19-is-hardly-a-plague/ (https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/may/25/considering-history-covid-19-is-hardly-a-plague/)

Considering history, COVID-19 is hardly a plague
However, it may well have catastrophic consequences for Western Civilization

(https://twt-thumbs.washtimes.com/media/image/2020/05/25/B3-Pry_2_c0-633-1800-1682_s885x516.jpg?0a3200cc9ed46c9cae05f332b19bf92016d421e9)
The emperor Justinian

By Peter Vincent Pry - - Monday, May 25, 2020

Great plagues have changed the course of history.

Best known is the Black Death (1347-51), introduced to Europe from Asia through trade routes, carried by rats and transmitted by fleas.

This bubonic plague killed up to one-third to one-half of the population of Europe, almost literally burying the old social order that was medieval feudalism, wiping the slate clean for the rise of mercantilism, the Age of Exploration and the Renaissance.

Lesser known is the Antonine Plague (165-180 A.D.), introduced to the Roman Empire through trade with Asia, probably the measles or smallpox.

The Antonine Plague, according to contemporary accounts, caused 2,000 deaths daily in Rome, an estimated 5 million deaths throughout the Empire, and devastated the Roman legions, hampering defense of the eastern and northern frontiers.

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Title: Re: Considering history, COVID-19 is hardly a plague
Post by: catfish1957 on May 26, 2020, 02:26:17 pm
Here is another great article that does an outstanding job of viusalizing the impact of plagues the past few thousand years.  A well used click.

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/history-of-pandemics-deadliest/ (https://www.visualcapitalist.com/history-of-pandemics-deadliest/)
Title: Re: Considering history, COVID-19 is hardly a plague
Post by: cato potatoe on May 28, 2020, 04:58:27 am
Here is another great article that does an outstanding job of viusalizing the impact of plagues the past few thousand years.  A well used click.

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/history-of-pandemics-deadliest/ (https://www.visualcapitalist.com/history-of-pandemics-deadliest/)

By most estimates the Spanish Flu had a mortality rate of 2.5%, or around ten times the severity of COVID-19.  If 10-20 thousand Americans were dropping every day, then perhaps the recent lockdowns would have been proportional to the risk.  As it stands, we have flattened our economy for no good reason.