Has Britain become too selfish to cope with coronavirus? | Gaby Hinsliff
When death came to the village of Eyam, it was probably hidden inside a roll of cloth. Bubonic plague is thought to have been carried to this remote corner of Derbyshire from London back in the 1660s by infected fleas, trapped in a bale of fabric ordered to make costumes for a festival. The sickness spread fast, killing dozens of villagers and leaving many on the verge of fleeing in panic – but then something extraordinary happened.
The rector of Eyam, believing it his duty to spare neighbouring towns from infection, persuaded his parishioners to take the astonishingly self-sacrificing step of sealing themselves off from the world. They would live or they would die, but nobody would leave until the sickness had burned itself out. One mother is said to have buried six of her children, yet by staying must have saved countless other women from the same fate.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2Pyy6f0
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