World Seemingly Distressed By A Pandemic Once In ‘Five Score Years'

In 1720s marseille plague, 1820s cholera, 1920 spanish flu, 2020… coronavirus?

- K.K.S. Perera

The earliest known pandemic was recorded in France, known as Great Plague of Marseille in 1720, exactly 300 years ago. This plague was the last of the significant European outbreaks of bubonic plague. The virus killed a little over 100,000 people. Out of this number, 50,000 were city dwellers, while during the next two years an equal number in the north and surrounding provinces. However, unlike in Corona, and despite the large number of fatalities, Marseille recovered fast from the outbreak. Economic activity took a few years to recover, as trading expanded to the West Indies and South America.

The people at Marseilles took dramatic measures in controlling the spread of disease. The Marseilles city council established a sanitation board consisting members drawn from the city council and doctors of the city. The newly-recognised board made a sequence of recommendations to preserve the health of the city.

They also found a State official team to maintain health services of Marseilles. The sanitation board sought to assemble public infrastructure in addition to defending the city from outside vulnerabilities. The first government hospital of Marseilles was also constructed during this period and was provided with a fully-fledged medical staff. The sanitation board sought to provide citizens with a list of doctors too, citing misinformation that propagated during the plague.