SELF ISOLATION

There is no doubt that we are living in unprecedented tough times.  The coronavirus pandemic is sweeping through the world at an alarming pace, claiming umpteen lives and, unfortunately, scientists are predicting that it, still, hasn't reached a peak on a global scale.   Due to the nature of the virus, we are living in self-isolation for over a month, in Greece, and we have to be patient until next July or August.  Moreover, the global economy is in a terrible crunch due to closed schools and businesses of all kinds.  Will this be the turning point of the world's economy?


The coronavirus can infect anyone but according to recent reports, one's social-economic status can play a big role, together with job security and access to health care they have widened the gap in infection and mortality between rich and poor, the same as 14th century Italy.  The rich can isolate themselves in safe havens, while the poor live in hoards in small spaces, where they could be easily infected by the virus.  This is so terribly unjust and unfair.

Plague Victims in 14th Century Italy 

But this is not the first time in history that mankind had to be in self-isolation.  During the 6th century, bubonic plague was responsible for the Justinian plague which originated in the East Roman Empire     During the 14th century, the Black Death (bubonic plague) swept through Asia, Europe and Africa, killing 30 million people, about 60% of the European population.   Much later the 1918 flu pandemic, known as the "The Spanish Flu ", that lasted from January 1918 to December 1920, infecting 500 million people, about a third of the world's population, possibly killing as high as 100 million, making it one of the deadliest pandemics in human history, according to the 20th-century press and Wikipedia.

In Memoriam of all the Dead from Pandemics