Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

UK 'plague village' offers lesson for a country under lockdown
France24 ^ | March 24, 2020

Posted on 03/24/2020 7:36:51 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer

Eyam (AFP) - In the 17th century, residents in the remote English village of Eyam quarantined themselves to prevent the spread of bubonic plague. Most paid with their lives.

Now their descendants and locals are outraged that a steady stream of visitors have ignored government warnings to stay at home to tackle the coronavirus outbreak.

In 1665, the bubonic plague arrived in the Derbyshire village of Eyam from London, nearly 150 miles (250 kilometres) further south, carried by fleas in fabrics ordered by a tailor.

As dozens died, the rector of Eyam church, William Mompesson, with the help of his predecessor Thomas Stanley, convinced parishioners the only way to fight it was to shut off the village completely.

Neighbouring communities helped out, leaving food on the edge of the village. Vinegar -- the only known disinfectant at the time -- was used to keep germs at bay.

The current vicar of St Lawrence's church, Reverend Mike Gilbert, is currently in self-isolation because his wife has shown symptoms of COVID-19.

During the plague, worshippers gathered outside to pray, keeping their distance from one another.

"All the things that they had decided to do were very efficient," said Francine Clifford, a village historian. "It was successful. But they paid the price."

In 14 months, some 260 villagers died of plague -- perhaps as much as a third of the population, which was estimated at between 350 and 800.

But by November 1666, the disease had disappeared and containment prevented it from spreading further north.

(Excerpt) Read more at france24.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: 14thcentury; ancientautopsies; ccr5delta32; ccr5gene; china; delta32; eyam; godsgravesglyphs; helixmakemineadouble; hicincipitpestis; peakdistrict; plague; smallpox; virus; yersiniapestis

1 posted on 03/24/2020 7:36:51 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Oldeconomybuyer

It wouldn’t have mattered either way.


2 posted on 03/24/2020 7:48:41 AM PDT by 2banana (My common ground with islamic terrorists - they want to die for allah and we want to kill them.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Oldeconomybuyer

Visited years ago. Pretty place.


3 posted on 03/24/2020 7:56:05 AM PDT by RushIsMyTeddyBear ("Progressives" (elitist Communists) "Love you to death".)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2banana

Touching story, but the conclusion is not necessarily accurate. The plague stopped in lots of other places, too.


4 posted on 03/24/2020 8:09:13 AM PDT by oldplayer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: 2banana

And that’s EXACTLY the conclusion they want you to have.

They want you to ignore any method to reduce the death toll, the more dead bodies for the democrats to dance on before the election the better!

Black Death bad, orange man worse.

Party on, my FRiend, you’ll love a Biden/(Pelosi? Hillary? Maxine?) presidency!


5 posted on 03/24/2020 8:17:49 AM PDT by null and void (By the pricking of my lungs, Something wicked this way comes ...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: oldplayer

The only way to stop the plague was to kill the rats and mice the fleas with the plague like to make a home on.

Lots of rat killing cats and dogs
Lots of rat killing folks, traps and poisons
Sanitary condition to take away rat food sources


6 posted on 03/24/2020 8:19:34 AM PDT by 2banana (My common ground with islamic terrorists - they want to die for allah and we want to kill them.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: null and void

See post #6.

Drastic action, without thought, data and evidence, usually makes things worse.


7 posted on 03/24/2020 8:20:54 AM PDT by 2banana (My common ground with islamic terrorists - they want to die for allah and we want to kill them.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Oldeconomybuyer; neverdem; ProtectOurFreedom; Mother Abigail; EBH; vetvetdoug; Smokin' Joe; ...
Eyam lost about a third of its population. The data is sufficiently widespread and numerous to make it likely that the Black Death swept away around 60 per cent of Europe's population.

One could argue that the quarantine save roughly 250 Eyam residents.

IOW fully half of Eyam's survivors owed their lives to the quarantine.

Bring Out Your Dead

Post to me or FReep mail to be on/off the Bring Out Your Dead ping list.

The purpose of the “Bring Out Your Dead” ping list (formerly the “Ebola” ping list) is very early warning of emerging pandemics, as such it has a high false positive rate.

The false positive rate was 100%.

At some point we may well have a high mortality pandemic, and likely as not the “Bring Out Your Dead” threads will miss the beginning entirely.

*sigh* Such is life, and death...

If a quarantine saves just one child's or one old fart’s life, it's worth it.

8 posted on 03/24/2020 8:24:03 AM PDT by null and void (By the pricking of my lungs, Something wicked this way comes ...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2banana

See post #8.

Keep partying, my FRiend, the gene pool needs cleansing of the incurably careless.


9 posted on 03/24/2020 8:25:55 AM PDT by null and void (By the pricking of my lungs, Something wicked this way comes ...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: All

Gunnison, Colorado: the town that dodged the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/01/gunnison-colorado-the-town-that-dodged-the-1918-spanish-flu-pandemic


10 posted on 03/24/2020 8:33:52 AM PDT by TigerClaws
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: TigerClaws
The article said that communities all around Gunnison were being decimated by the flu.

There ARE no communities around Gunnison. It is pretty isolated in the high country of southwestern Colorado. I suspect that had a lot to do with its immunity.

Don't get me wrong. Gunnison is a beautiful place. But it's hardly Metropolis.

11 posted on 03/24/2020 8:53:12 AM PDT by IronJack
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: Oldeconomybuyer

Let’s see. The village’s population was somewhere between 350 and 800 people, and 260 died of the plague, and that was as much as one third of the population? Fuzzy math.


12 posted on 03/24/2020 9:03:34 AM PDT by Verginius Rufus
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; 1ofmanyfree; 21twelve; 24Karet; 2ndDivisionVet; 31R1O; ...
This topic was posted 3/24/2020, thanks Oldeconomybuyer.

13 posted on 09/16/2021 10:16:19 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Oldeconomybuyer

It wasn’t just fleas that carried the plague. It was human body lice too, and there was plenty of that back then. Makes you wonder how much body lice is roaming around in the homeless projects today.


14 posted on 09/16/2021 11:01:26 AM PDT by mass55th ("Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway." ~~ John Wayne )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Oldeconomybuyer

The Black Plague killed as much as 60% of the population of Europe.

One has a 99.7% chance of surviving the ‘rona.

Yeah, that’s the same.


15 posted on 09/16/2021 12:59:18 PM PDT by dsc (Their swords and every terrible implement of the soldier are the birthright of Americans.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

1564. Summer. A weaver’s apprentice passed away in Stratford-upon-Avon, a small village in the English countryside. Next to the name of the weaver’s apprentice, which was found in the town’s records, were three words: “Hic incipit pestis” — “here begins the plague.”

Much of this town’s inhabitants were wiped out because of the plague. Nobody knew who would live and who would die — it all came to chance. The plague would visit one family and skip the next one in the neighborhood. All were in danger due to the plague, especially helpless infants. It would only be a miracle if an infant would survive.

A couple from this town who had already lost two children to previous waves of the plague breathed a sigh of relief when the plague finally ended in their town, as they just witnessed a miracle in their lives — their infant, which was less than a year old, survived the plague. That infant would soon become one of the well-known poets in history. His name: William Shakespeare.

For much of his writing career, the plague remained a taboo subject.

Even when it was the only thing on anybody’s mind, nobody could bring himself to speak about it. Londoners went to the city’s playhouses so they could temporarily escape their dread of the plague. A play about the plague had the appeal of watching a movie about a plane crash while 35,000 feet in the air.

But Shakespeare didn’t shy away from taking advantage of the plague. It was Shakespeare’s secret weapon in telling the tragic story of Romeo and Juliet.
Shakespeare’s Secret Weapon in Telling His Stories | Franzified | Wednesday, March 11, 2020

16 posted on 10/19/2021 12:17:32 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]


17 posted on 10/19/2021 12:19:55 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: 2banana

Genetics might have something to do with it.

The folks left bred more folks resistant to the bug.

That said, in many ways 17th century London handled the Great Plague far better than Deep State has handled CoupFlu.

But then the people handling the Great Plague weren’t trying to overthrow the government and kill God knows how many people if required.


18 posted on 10/19/2021 12:28:09 PM PDT by mewzilla (Those aren't masks. They're muzzles. )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson