Compare and Contrast Essay: Bubonic Plague vs. COVID-19

The Black Plague was a sudden and horrific disease that killed over 20 million people. The disease was first introduced in central Asia and would spread all throughout Asia and Europe. This disease was highly infective had an extremely high mortality rate. People all around were dying with no explanation whatsoever. A few centuries later, a similar virus with a high infection rate began spreading throughout the world known as Covid-19. Although the two are happening centuries apart, we still see the same patterns today from back when this new disease unexpectedly began and killed millions of people only within 4 years. 

The way people viewed the Bubonic Plague back then and the way people view Covid-19 currently has many more commonalities than you may believe. First of all, when the Black Plague began in the 1300s, there was a great amount of fear and panic amongst the people. When the disease just began spreading, people realized how dangerous it actually is and tried to do anything to survive. At first, many people believed that the plague was spread just by looking at a sick person. According to “Black Death” from history.com, “No one knew exactly how the Black Death was transmitted from one patient to another, and no one knew how to prevent or treat it. According to one doctor, for example, “instantaneous death occurs when the aerial spirit escaping from the eyes of the sick man strikes the healthy person standing near and looking at the sick... in a panic, healthy people did all they could to avoid the sick. Doctors refused to see patients; priests refused to administer last rites; and shopkeepers closed their stores. Many people fled the cities for the countryside, but even there they could not escape the disease…” This evidence supports my claim because it shows how without understanding what was going on, everyone was going crazy trying to hide and avoid looking at sick people. It shows that people were just as afraid of the Black Death just as much as people were afraid of Covid-19 in the start. Back in November of 2019 through March of 2020 when the Coronavirus started, everyone around was panicking. A source from 2020 says, “People are always willing to share its resources within the family but too reluctant to share it to other people because of the need to secure their individual development. … people were seen hoarding basic necessities especially alcohol, toilet paper, and other supplies. With this, other people are left scarce of the supplies and now subject to danger.” These 2 first reactions to the diseases are very similar to each other. They both show how people in a panic try to buy as much as possible and hide from any viruses they may come in contact with from the outside without knowing anything about them. Even when doctors began examining and learning about the viruses, some people wouldn’t believe it and would continue to create their own opinions even when science proves them to be incorrect. 

Many people in the 1300s had their own opinions of where the virus came from. We even see this same pattern from the past happen again today with the number of people having various opinions on where covid originates from; despite all the new knowledge and research we have that wasn’t available for the people back then. There are many other various beliefs from where covid originates from including 5G, people purposefully creating it in a lab to infect others, an accidental lab accident, etc. Based on an analysis of the panic about the Covid-19 pandemic, “Around a quarter of adults (23%) say it is most likely that the current strain of coronavirus was developed intentionally in a lab; another 6% say it was most likely made accidentally in a lab. A quarter say they aren’t sure where the virus originated.” This quote is similar to how the people were thinking about the bubonic plague. Many people believed in different things. Some people believed that constellation combat poisoned the water which spread through the air and left the air poisonous. Others believed that it was God punishing them for their sins. Since in the 1300s they didn’t know much about pandemics and diseases, all of these theories seemed to be truthful. Although nowadays, with all the new technology we own and all the research we can do in labs, some people still believe that the Covid vaccine is a tracker from the government. This evidence is meant to show how people back then and now share the same thinking patterns and will always try to convince others despite scientific evidence proving them wrong and saying otherwise. 

To summarize, the Bubonic plague and the Covid-19 pandemic have many commonalities with the way people try to understand the causes of the 2 diseases. Even though the 2 pandemics are about 700 years apart, we still see some of the same reactions back then to the recent coronavirus disease.