By Luke Thomas '21
When people think about the problems caused by COVID-19, many imagine it’s the end of the world. “This is not when the human race will cease to exist,” William Tune ’20 said. “This is nowhere near as devastating as other pandemics we have experienced.”
This was part of the May 8 Zoom discussion led by Tune, who is co-head and founder of the StC History club, where he compared the COVID-19 pandemic to plagues that have occurred in the past.
Tune’s presentation included many parallels, differences, and interesting tidbits. Past plagues have been much more lethal due to the access to technology. Nowadays, we have much more advanced science to study the disease and effective modes of communication. In England, the Black Death killed 30% to 50% of England’s population, a statistic much lower than COVID-19. In 1918, Philadelphia lifted its quarantine too early for a parade. It caused the infection to rapidly spread through the city.
Tune ended his presentation noting that if we can analyze what went wrong back then, we can understand what we can do better today.