History in time of Crisis by David Jones

By Otis Historical Archives, National Museum of Health and Medicine — Emergency hospital during influenza epidemic (NCP 1603), National Museum of Health and Medicine.https://www.buckscountycouriertimes.com/news/20190923/mxfctter-museum-to-mark-historic-influenza-pandemic/1, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=25513204

David Jones, a Harvard Professor specialized in culture and medicine writes on NEJM and comments on the use of history while facing COVID19 crisis. The article is open-access, available via this URL: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2004361

“When asked to explain past events, historians are quick to assert the importance of context. If you want to understand how or why something happened, you must attend to local circumstances. But there is something about epidemics that has elicited an opposite reaction from historians: a desire to identify universal truths about how societies respond to contagious disease.”

“History suggests that we are actually at much greater risk of exaggerated fears and misplaced priorities. There are many historical examples of panic about epidemics that never materialized (e.g., H1N1 influenza in 1976, 2006, and 2009). There are countless other examples of societies worrying about a small threat (e.g., the risk of Ebola spreading in the United States in 2014) while ignoring much larger ones hidden in plain sight. SARS-CoV-2 had killed roughly 5000 people by March 12.”