“Set peace of mind as your highest goal, and organize your life around it.” ~Brian Tracy
Indeed, in the realm of infectious diseases, a pandemic is the worst imaginable calamity because it spreads beyond a country’s borders. We can have a bird’ eye view of the kind of pandemics that ravaged humanity in ancient times too. These examples may serve to illustrate that they had great similarities like the one we are presently witnessing.[1]
430 B.C.: Athens
The earliest recorded pandemic happened during the Peloponnesian War. It is said to have crossed boundaries and is claimed to have killed as much as two-thirds of the population.
The symptoms included fever, thirst, bloody throat and tongue, red skin and lesions
1350: The Black Death[2]
Responsible for the death of one-third of the world population, this second large outbreak of the bubonic plague possibly started in Asia and moved west in caravans. Entering through Sicily in 1347 A.D. when plague sufferers arrived in the port of Messina, it spread throughout Europe rapidly…
England and France were so incapacitated by the plague that the countries called a truce to their war. The British feudal system collapsed when the plague changed economic circumstances and demographics. Ravaging populations in Greenland, Vikings lost the strength to wage battle against native populations, and their exploration of North America halted.
1492: The Columbian Exchange
Following the arrival of the Spanish in the Caribbean, diseases such as smallpox, measles and bubonic plague were passed along to the native populations by the Europeans. With no previous exposure, these diseases devastated indigenous people, with as many as 90 percent dying throughout the north and south continents.
Upon arrival on the island of Hispaniola, Christopher Columbus encountered the Taino people, population 60,000. By 1548, the population stood at less than 500. This scenario repeated itself throughout the Americas.[3]
There have been epidemics, endemics and pandemics of varies genres and descriptions since then with fatalities of humongous dimensions. Notably, the 1665: The Great Plague of London killing over 20 per cent of London’s population; 1817: First Cholera Pandemic being the first of seven cholera pandemics in over the next 150 years. This wave of the small intestine infection originated in Russia, where one million people died spread to other countries Spain, Africa, Indonesia, China, Japan, Italy, Germany and America, consuming thousands of people for want of medicine. Although a vaccine was created in 1885, history tells us of the continuation of pandemics throughout the universe. The Third Plague Pandemic in 1855 started in China and moving to India and Hong Kong, the bubonic plague claimed 15 million victims;
The Russian Flu of 1889:
The first significant flu pandemic started in Siberia and Kazakhstan, traveled to Moscow, and made its way into Finland and then Poland, where it moved into the rest of Europe. By the following year, it had crossed the ocean into North America and Africa. By the end of 1890, 360,000 had died.
1918: Spanish Flu:
The avian-borne flu that resulted in 50 million deaths worldwide came to called as the Spanish Flu since it was a neutral country in the First World War and strict press Censorship was in vogue in several countries including England where it was quite widespread. At the time, there were no effective drugs or vaccines to treat this killer flu strain. Wire service reports of a flu outbreak in Madrid in the spring of 1918 led to the pandemic being called the “Spanish flu.”
1957: Asian flu:
Starting in Hong Kong and spreading throughout China and then into the United States, the Asian flu became widespread in England where, in a short period of about six months thousand became victims and soon thereafter a second wave followed in early 1958, causing an estimated total of about 1.1 million deaths globally. It was a great relief when scientists developed a vaccine was developed, effectively containing the pandemic.[4]
2003: SARS
First identified in 2003 after several months of cases, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome is believed to have possibly started with bats, spread to cats and then to humans in China, followed by 26 other countries, infecting 8,096 people, with 774 deaths.
SARS is characterized by respiratory problems, dry cough, fever and head and body aches and is spread through respiratory droplets from coughs and sneezes. Quarantine efforts proved effective and by July, the virus was contained and hasn’t reappeared since.
SARS was seen by global health professionals as a wake-up call to improve outbreak responses, and lessons from the pandemic were used to keep diseases like H1N1, Ebola and Zika under control.
And now, in the present era we have what is come to be known as “2019: COVID-19” an abbreviation for ‘corona virus Disease of the year 2019’.
On March 11, 2020, The World Health Organization announced[5] that the COVID-19 virus was officially a pandemic after barreling through 114 countries in three months and infecting over 118,000 people. And the spread wasn’t anywhere near finished. The WHO declared:
COVID-19 is caused by a novel coronavirus—a new coronavirus strain that has not been previously found in people. Symptoms include respiratory problems, fever and cough, and can lead to pneumonia and death. Like SARS, it’s spread through droplets from sneezes.[6]
India has been in the forefront in its battle to combat the deadly virus and rigorous implementation of “SOCIAL DISTANCING” has been thought of as one of the more effective prophylactic in addition to including the closing of schools and workplaces, isolation, quarantine, restricting movement of people and the cancellation of mass gatherings.
There are laws in each of the countries prescribing punishments of varying degree for violation of any such stringent law. It is tragic to see hundred and thousands of people, mindless of consequences, openly defying the laws. Most of the people, if not all, are aware that the spread of the disease is far and wide and has overtaken the previous day’s number of cases. As of date, the number of corona cases has exceeded 1100000 and the number of fatalities are nearing 100,000 the world over. People across the world do not know the significance of expressions like ‘lockdown’, ‘social distancing’ and the scope and content of the host of rules and regulations issued by governmental and quasi-governmental authorities with a view to containing the spreading of the earth shattering pandemic.
I remember that in early times and in fact, even as of today, in parts of South India women (not necessarily elderly and those who are widowed) practice what in a South Indian language is referred to as “MADHI” meaning strict social distancing and seclusion (not to be likened to any sort of exclusion or ostracisation, please note). Under this training such women after their morning ablutions and subsequent to their Prayers or “POOJA” do not permit even their own children and other family members to come very close to them nor touch them (and in case they do, they would have (the women, I mean) to take a bath again and change their sanctified clothes which they have washed themselves). They only mix and intermix with similarly placed women (whether in the household or elsewhere). Indeed, they do not even partake food or refreshments proffered by other members of their own family including their own daughters or daughters in law. They come out of their seclusion late in the evening after they have had their “tiffin” (light refreshment) cooked or made by themselves or another lady (married woman) temporarily practicing such distancing until the refreshment has been partaken.
Social Distancing has been practiced by people from the earliest times both during normal times as well as in extraordinary circumstances such as in times of epidemics or pandemics of the kind the world is going through present days by the dreaded corona disease.
Isolation, seclusion and quarantines
The Floodwaters Arrive[7]
…In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month, all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened…And the rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights…On that very day Noah entered the ark, along with his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and his wife, and the three wives of his sons—…
Berean Study Bible [8]
“Through which the world of that time perished in the flood.”(Peter 3:6)
Genesis 7:4
“For seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living thing I have made.”
Genesis 7:17
“For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and the waters rose and lifted the ark high above the earth”
Genesis 8:2
The springs of the deep and the floodgates of the heavens were closed, and the rain from the sky was restrained.”
The Bible says:
“Forty days was the period from the resurrection of Jesus to the ascension of Jesus (Acts 1:3). According to Stephen, Moses’ life is divided into three 40-year segments, separated by his growing to adulthood, fleeing from Egypt, and his return to lead his people out (Acts 7:23,30,36).” [9]
Stevens Crawshaw[10] says that even before the arrival of the plague, the biblical notion of a 40-day period of purification had crossed over into health practices. After childbirth, for example, a new mother was expected to rest for 40 days.
Professor Emil Verner of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has warned:
“Pandemics Depress the Economy, Public Health Interventions Do Not: Evidence from the 1918 Flu”
“The pandemic itself is just so destructive to the economy, so any policy that you can use that directly mitigates the severity of the pandemic can actually be beneficial for the economy,” Mr. Verner said. Stricter interventions “actually make it safer for economic activity to resume, and they mitigate the negative impact of the pandemic itself on mortality.” [11]
As recently as March 26th, 2020, together with his esteemed colleagues Sergio Correia and Stephan Luck explain the economic benefits of NON PHARAMACEUTICAL INTERVENTIONS (NPI). They not only result in less number of fatalities but also “mitigate the adverse economic consequences of a pandemic”[12]
It is therefore of a very high importance and indeed, it is CRUCIAL that each one of us regulate our self and practice social distancing, quarantining or isolating as the circumstances might demand of us not only in our own self-interest but more importantly in the interest of the nation at large. Among other things let us pay attention and adhere to governmental and or of its agencies guidelines in this regard some of which are enumerated below:[13]
- Practice good hand and sneeze/cough hygiene;
- Avoid handshaking and regularly disinfect high touch surfaces, such as tables, kitchen benches and doorknobs;
- Increase ventilation in the home by opening windows or adjusting air conditioning;
- Visit shops sparingly and buy more goods and services online;
- Avoid needless outings and travel;
- Care for the sick person in a single room if possible ;
- Both the sick person and the people caring for them should wear a surgical mask when they are in the same room;
- Protect other vulnerable family members, such as people over 65 years or people with a chronic illness, including, if practicable, finding alternative accommodation for them;
- Defer large meetings and in any case do not attend any such gatherings;
- Promote strictest hygiene among food preparation (canteen) staff and their close contacts;
- If your child is sick, do not send them to school (or childcare);
- Instill the habit of sanitizing their hands at regular intervals;
- Hold essential meetings outside in the open air if possible;
- Limit food handling and sharing of food in the workplace
[1] https://www.history.com/topics/middle-ages/pandemics-timeline
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[2] ibid
[3] ibid
[4] ibid
[5] On March 11, 2020
[6] Without a vaccine available, the virus has spread far and wide and has become universal and is estimated to have infected people in about 163 countries.
[7] https://biblehub.com/genesis/7-12.htm
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[8] https://www.google.co.in/search?dcr=0&ei=wcGJXv_VB9PZz7sPhLud6AU&q=is+the+berean+study+bible+accurate&oq=Berean+Study+Bible+&gs_lcp=CgZwc3ktYWIQARgBMgYIABAHEB4yBggAEAcQHjIGCAAQBxAeMgYIABAHEB4yBggAEAcQHjIGCAAQBxAeMgYIABAHEB4yBggAEAcQHjICCAAyAggAOgQIABBHOgUIIRCgAUoOCBcSCjExLTEyOWcxMTlKCggYEgYxMS0xZzNQy5EVWP-7FWCFshZoAHABeACAAbYBiAGPEJIBBDIuMTaYAQCgAQKgAQGqAQdnd3Mtd2l6&sclient=psy-ab#spf=1586086707714
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[9] https://www.google.co.in/search?dcr=0&source=hp&ei=pMWJXrv7BIuO4-EP-7yX4A4&q=%E2%80%9CForty+days+was+the+period+from+the+resurrection+of+Jesus+to+the+ascension+of+Jesus+%28Acts+1%3A3%29.+According+to+Stephen%2C+Moses%27+life+is+divided+into+three+40-year+segments%2C+separated+by+his+growing+to+adulthood%2C+fleeing+from+Egypt%2C+and+his+return+to+lead+his+people+out+%28Acts+7%3A23%2C30%2C36%29.%E2%80%9D+&oq=%E2%80%9CForty+days+was+the+period+from+the+resurrection+of+Jesus+to+the+ascension+of+Jesus+%28Acts+1%3A3%29.+According+to+Stephen%2C+Moses%27+life+is+divided+into+three+40-year+segments%2C+separated+by+his+growing+to+adulthood%2C+fleeing+from+Egypt%2C+and+his+return+to+lead+his+people+out+%28Acts+7%3A23%2C30%2C36%29.%E2%80%9D+&gs_lcp=CgZwc3ktYWIQA1DDHFjDHGCHNGgAcAB4AIABAIgBAJIBAJgBAaABAqABAaoBB2d3cy13aXo&sclient=psy-ab&ved=0ahUKEwi73Yvgm9HoAhULxzgGHXveBewQ4dUDCAo&uact=5#spf=1586087342145
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[10] Dr.Jane Stevens Crawshaw is a Renaissance Italian historian with research interests in the relationships between people and the places they inhabit. Her current project explores the impact of developing ideas about ‘cleanliness’ on the public health, urban and environmental policies of Venice and Genoa. Before this, she developed a holistic and contextualised institutional study of plague hospitals, which were first established in fifteenth-century Venice.
https://www.brookes.ac.uk/templates/pages/staff.aspx?wid=&op=full&uid=p0075724-05042020@1801
[11] https://www.google.co.in/search?dcr=0&q=%E2%80%9CThe+pandemic+itself+is+just+so+destructive+to+the+economy,+so+any+policy+that+you+can+use+that+directly+mitigate+the+severity+of+the+pandemic+can+actually+be+beneficial+for+the+economy,%E2%80%9D&spell=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi1-OnVn9PoAhVTxjgGHT6cA-4QBSgAegQIAxAp&biw=1085&bih=544#spf=1586157113746
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[12] https://twitter.com/emilverner?lang=en-060420230@1253
[13] www.health.gov.au/covid19-resources; useful https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/index.html
with best wishes,
PVJois
Dynamics of Personality 