The Great Plague of London

Word of the Day

dram / dram / noun = Scottish, a small drink of whisky or other spirits.  Example:  "Have a wee dram to ward off the winter chill."

The Great Plague of London was an epidemic of plague that ravaged London, England, from 1665 to 1666.  City records indicate that some 68,596 people died during the epidemic, though the actual number of deaths is suspected to have exceeded 100,000 out of a total population estimated at 460,000.  To learn more about that plague, read the online Encyclopedia Britannica article by clicking on this link.

Plague Ship ~ by Frank G. Slaughter, 1976, fiction (Peru)

High in the Andes Mountains of Peru, an archaeologist stumbles upon an an­cient tomb, unwittingly releasing the germs from a civilization doomed by a plague over 5,000 years ago.  What happens when this deadly organism reap­pears forms the basis of this novel.  Just like now, there is no antidote (or vaccine).  This is the story of one man in par­ticular — Dr. Grant Reed and the dedi­cated crew of the international hospital ship Mercy, as they set about the task of quarantining the first victims of a hideous plague.  Set adrift by frightened Peruvians, the aging and crippled ship faces a hurricane, mutinous patients, and even a pair of great white sharks, grisly mascots of a ship of death.

The dust jacket says, "Frank Slaughter here takes on ... the complex, high-stakes world of interglobal medicine, taking us behind the public deeds to the private people whose courage can make the difference between today's flus ... and tomor­row's headlines."

And now we are reading headlines like that.  I wrote about this book when I bought it in 2011, but only today remembered I have it.  I reserved a couple of novels about plague at my library, ones I've read before.  Unfortunately, they were among eight that arrived at the same time when my library opened back up.  I can't read eight books in three weeks, and these are ones I've read before, so I decided to return those two and pick up this un-read book about a plague ship, instead.

Coronavirus update

Dr. Birx says what we have right now are essentially three New Yorks, and "Baltimore, Cleveland, Columbus, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, Miami, Minneapolis, Nashville, New Orleans, Pittsburgh and St. Louis need to take 'aggressive' steps immediately to avoid becoming the next hot spots."

Friends in Tennessee and Missouri, please take note of Nashville and St. Louis.  STAY HOME, if you can.  Always WEAR A MASK when you go anywhere,  and stay SIX FEET away from others, even when everybody's wearing a mask.  WASH YOUR HANDS frequently.  Remember, a drink with friends in a crowded bar in exchange for the coronavirus is, as Samuel Pepys said, "an ill bargain indeed."

St. Louis County Department of Public Health

Dr. Page announced this morning that the following seven initiatives will take effect at 5:00 p.m. this Friday, July 31, 2020.

• Only gatherings of up to 50 people will be permitted.  Any group that had its plan for an event pre-approved should expect to be contacted by the Department of Public Health to discuss their specific circumstances.
• Occupancy rules for all businesses will revert to where they were in June at 25% occupancy.
• The Department of Public Health is ordering that all bars close at 10 p.m. every night. The late-night and early-morning hours are times when social distancing, mask wearing, and crowd avoidance measures are not being followed.
• The Department of Public Health will be implementing new procedures to ensure businesses are following the rules for the safety of their workers, workers’ families, and their customers.
• It is also recommended that anyone awaiting their COVID-19 test results quarantine until they receive those results.  Right now, not all asymptomatic patients have been quarantining, but we now strongly recommend that they do so.  It is recommended that employers work with employees to make quarantining possible.
• Action will also be taken this week to ensure that all health providers are getting their results reported in a timely manner. Due to delays, the Department of Public Health issued a Rapid Notification Order.
• The Director of Human Services has been asked to help provide safe places for teachers who need to quarantine.  Teachers, virtual or in-classroom, are always important, but in a few weeks, teachers will be the new front-line workers.