Introduction
Today, the world is battling the COVID-19 pandemic, which has been a threat to our daily lives. Currently, many governments have become adept at dealing with a policy against diseases. However, in the past, people were unaware of epidemics and how to treat them well. The world’s responses to epidemics have changed for thousands of years. There have been several pandemic diseases in history. For this article, Black Death and COVID-19 will be compared to each other, as Black Death was the most famous in the Middle Ages, and the COVID-19 is an ongoing epidemic. Let us compare how the world dealt with Black Death then and how we deal with COVID-19 now.
Black Death
Before the Black Death, some more epidemics, such as the Plague of Justinian, occurred in the 5th century in the Byzantine Empire. However, the Black Death was the most horrific pandemic. Three types of Black Death existed according to symptoms: septicemic plague, pneumonic plague, and bubonic plague. The Black Death caused one of them from Europe to Asia in the 13th century. It was believed to be China in 1334 and spread to Europe through trade ships docked at Sicilian ports in the 1340s. The Black Death was the most mortal disease in history. It caused the death of about 75-200 million people in Eurasia and North Africa. It is estimated to have killed 30 to 60 percent of the European population. The Black Death was the start of the second plague pandemic, and it recurred several times until the 1800s.
In the 19th century, people believed that rats and other rodents spread the plague. However, that conclusion was wrong. One of the bacteria, Yersinia Pestis, was a causative bacterium. A flea sucked the blood of a rodent, such as a rat, that had been infected with Yersinia Pestis. The flea that sucked the rat’s blood sucked human blood. Then, people whose blood was sucked by the flea got the illness. The plague had a pneumonic form that could infect the respiratory system, such as coughing and breathing. Furthermore, it spread quickly because of a lot of trade between countries as well as an unclean environment.
One of the common Black Death plagues was the bubonic plague, whose incidence rate compromised 75 % of the total. The initial symptoms were high fever that was up to 41 degrees Celsius, vomiting, and headache. After that, it caused edema by attacking lymph nodes in our bodies.
COVID-19
COVID-19 is the biggest pandemic after the Black Death. It started in 2019 and is still ongoing. This coronavirus disease is contagious. This virus was first identified in Wuhan in China and spread worldwide. So far, confirmed cases are around 182 million people, and suspected cases are possibly 10% of the global population. In addition, it caused the death of about 4 million people. COVID-19 is one of the deadliest pandemics in history after the Black Death.
There is still no accurate conclusion on what the cause was. However, the most likely possibility is bacteria from bats and snakes. COVID-19 is caused by a coronavirus called SARS-Co-V-2. COVID-19 is contagious to others through respiratory droplets from infected people coughing, sneezing, talking, or breathing. The possibility of infection increases as people are closer or stay in contact for a long time.
Everyone infected exhibits different symptoms such as fever, cough, loss of smell and taste, diarrhea, and fatigue. It may depend on the person. In severe cases, they suffered critical symptoms such as respiratory failure, chest pains, shock, or multiorgan dysfunction. If people who got complications or illness and old were infected, they could die and suffer from excruciating pain. Moreover, at least a third of the infected people with the coronavirus does not have noticeable symptoms. So, many people may be asymptomatic, but they can also spread it to others.
Their sociological and economic impacts on the world
Black Death
Economic – Before the epidemic, most European countries’ culture was the feudalism feudal system. So, many people who had their lands for agriculture, like the knights and lords, make serfs and peasants work in their lands with a low salary. However, many people died, including a lot of serfs, because of the Black Death. Furthermore, lords lost their workers, and it resulted in a labor shortage. This brought upon an increase in wages, and serfs were valued. So, there were so many peasants who became wealthy and increased their status. As a result, landowners got economic losses from the situation. In addition, it changed the economic structure in the Middle Ages in Europe.
Sociological – The feudal system in Europe collapsed due to the plague. Moreover, the class of the working people increased, and commoners could enjoy more freedom. Before the Black Death, many catholic churches had huge power, and the continent of Europe was composed of feudalism and city-states. However, the pandemic reorganized both religions and even politics. The root of quarantine was in this period. When someone would arrive in a new city from areas where the infection was serious, they were required to have a 30-day isolation period.
COVID-19
Economic – Because of COVID-19, governments all over the world set travel bans to restrict the further spread of the virus. For this reason, many businesses cannot trade with those in other countries, and they have been restructured. So, there are so many people who lost their jobs. In addition, some industries related to hotels and tourism went bankrupt, and their employees got fired. Also, people were not allowed to eat in restaurants, so a lot of financial damages have been incurred. Therefore, the world economy is in bad shape and is in serious condition. One economist predicted that the COVID-19 pandemic might cause the Great Depression again.
Sociological – Governments made restrictions and new rules that restrict people from having a social life and doing social activities. In addition, globally, many schools and universities executed non-face-to-face classes, so many students took classes through online systems. Plus, religious groups cannot get together to worship and cancel all religious events. The 2020 Summer Olympics, which many people in the world had been looking forward to, was delayed for a year because of the pandemic. Also, other sports championships were delayed to 2021. On the other hand, the environment and climate have improved because of the epidemic. The number of tourists, running airplanes and vehicles decreased significantly, and water quality and other natural resources have improved due to decreased societal, commercial, and industrial activity.
Conclusion (Responses in the past and now)
In the past, there was no scientific and medical therapy because medical technology was not developed at that time as it is today. Therefore, people did not know how to handle and treat the diseases. They struggled to respond against the plague. There were many nonscientific and superstitiously conducted therapies that people did in the past.
For one, medieval Europeans believed that the cause of the Black Death was a foul odor, so they always put flowers and fragrant candles in their pockets.
Another false belief was that it was due to water. Consequently, people did not take baths, which only led to an increased number of infections.
Next, a therapy in which an infected person’s blood was drawn, called phlebotomy, became popular. It was done by cutting the patient’s veins and drawing contaminated blood. However, many people died due to this medical practice. At that time, medical technologies were not advanced, so they used to use leeches to draw blood.
There were other therapies used. The Medieval Europeans used bizarre treatment to prevent the Black Death. A law was created and used to impose a quarantine, and its practice started in the Western World. After that, many epidemic diseases followed, and many medical technologies and medicines have improved. After World War 2, the World Health Organization (WHO) was established in 1945. People in modern society are thinking of health as important and try to prevent other upcoming infectious diseases. Moreover, many scientists and politicians have researched the response to the pandemic. As a result, we are suffering from a pandemic disease now, and many people are trying to prevent the spread of the disease by taking some serious precautions. Furthermore, many companies worldwide quickly create vaccines for the disease, so many vaccines are available now. In addition to this, the government makes new laws and regulations for the disease. They declared lockdowns in every city. For this reason, when lockdowns are in place, people cannot meet anyone and go anywhere. Also, they have executed social distancing to reduce physical contact among people. People could not gather more than a limited number of people in dense spaces. Besides, there are still a lot of advanced ways to prevent and stop the disease. We know a lot of different responses from the Black Death to COVID-19 based on modern technologies and wisdom from history. However, there are a lot of people who are suffering from pain and are restricted by regulations. Now, perhaps, we have to prepare for more serious diseases in the future to manage them better than we are doing now.
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Eh.net. 2021. Search Results The rise of the western world. [online] Available at: <https://www.eh.net/page/18/?s=The+rise+of+the+western+world> [Accessed 9 July 2021].
Press.cnu.ac.kr. 2021. [online] Available at: Response of the Black Death in the Middle Ages. <http://press.cnu.ac.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=15292> [Accessed 11 July 2021].
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