Oh GREAT now we have the “Black Death” to contend with. This nation had BETTER get on it’s knees and confess sin to the almighty!
Don’t panic. I read some years ago that Bubonic Plague is endemic among wild rodents in 17 western US states. The greatest danger is that when encountering a dead animal and getting too close, hungry fleas will jump to a live blood source—you.
Historical tidbits: The Black Death was enhanced in Europe by the association with and subsequent killing of cats because of witchcraft. Nostradomus may have curtailed an outbreak by recommendending rose hips tea (high in Vitamin C content). The Black Rat that brought in the BD was an upstairs and attic dweller, which brought them into close contact with humans. As they died out they were superceeded by the Norway rat, a basement and sewer dweller
which came into less contact with humans. This may be an important reason why BD died away over time.
Actually plague first came to the United States in the 1850's. The rail companies were importing Chinese Coolies to work on the transcontinental railway.
There was a small plague outbreak in San Francisco's Chinatown district. An alert doctor spotted the outbreak almost immediately, and appealed to the city council to institute a quarantine and rat catching program.
The town fathers refused to believe there was plague in their fair city.
They screwed around long enough for it to infect the local ground squirrel population where there was no hope stopping it from spreading. Thanks to their inaction, one can be exposed to plague anywhere in the western US.
Any parallels one wishes to draw with a more recent "gay plague" are left to the reader as an exercise.
Those who do not learn the lessons of the past...