Going for a walk from out cabin to the Whitefish Point Bird Observatory allows me to think about both nature (especially lichens), how I feel removed from the pandemic when we are here, and how diseases have affected my ancestors i n Italy.
One instance that came to mind occurred late in 1777 (August through November) when a mystery illness arrived in Peschici, Italy, the town where my grandfather was from. While I have been able to correlate many epidemics and pandemics to specific events in Peschici. In 1777 there is no mention of a specific disease, climate event, or social disruption associated with 1777. But at the start of 1777 Peschici had a population of 2000 people (including children), by the end of the year that number had dropped to 1800. Ten percent of the population had died, most in less than four months.
More worrisome was that the majority of children born in 1777 died that fall, along with children from the few years prior. The few that had survived had a life expectation of less than 20 years. There were also many additional deaths among the survivors of 1777 in the following years. Something beyond the immediate effects of the epidemic were the people experiencing the lasting effects. This brought me full-circle to wondering what will happen with “long-term COVID” survivors. What will their future hold?
Tomorrow – SARS (the 2003 pandemic), ebola and Marburg virus.
Michael's Place 