There’s a common thread linking our experience of pandemics over the past 700 years. From the black death in the 14th century to COVID in the 21st, public health authorities have put emergency measures such as isolation and quarantine in place to stop infectious diseases spreading.
As we know from COVID, these measures upend lives in an effort to save them. In both the recent and distant past they’ve also given rise to collective unrest, confusion and resistance.
