The video discusses various historical quarantines, highlighting their significance and the human responses to them. It begins with the first quarantine in Dubrovnik during the Black Plague and covers others like the Ebola outbreak in Africa, 9/11 air travel halt, and leprosy colonies. The longest quarantine mentioned is the current global response to COVID-19, emphasizing its unprecedented scale and impact on humanity. The video concludes by reflecting on this generational event's historical significance.
Here are the key facts extracted from the text:
1. The city of Dubrovnik, Croatia, was the first city in history to decree a quarantine, which was called "the thirty" and later extended to 40 days, known as "quarantine".
2. The quarantine was implemented by the city's leadership, a council, in response to the Black Plague.
3. The quarantine of Ragusa (Dubrovnik) started 643 years ago and is still used today as a model for quarantine.
4. The Ebola virus causes internal bleeding, liquefies organs, and can kill in six days or less.
5. The weakness of the Ebola virus is that it kills too quickly, not giving the carrier time to spread it.
6. The World Health Organization and local authorities in African nations implemented mandatory quarantines and militarized isolations to contain the Ebola outbreak.
7. In 2001, an air quarantine was declared in the US, grounding all commercial planes, in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
8. The quarantine lasted for 74 hours and was the largest air quarantine in history.
9. In 1666, the town of Eyam in England implemented a self-imposed quarantine during the bubonic plague outbreak, saving the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.
10. The town of Eyam suffered greatly, losing over a quarter of its inhabitants, but their sacrifice saved many lives.
11. In 1983, the US Federal Penitentiary in Marion, Illinois, implemented a four-year quarantine on its prisoners, studying their behavior and using them as "guinea pigs".
12. The quarantine was brutal, with prisoners locked in their cells for 23 hours a day, no activities, and no contact with the outside world.
13. Leprosy is a disease that causes skin to rot and fall apart if left untreated.
14. In the past, people with leprosy were often exiled to islands, such as the island of Espina Longa in Greece, and left to die.
15. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to the longest and most extensive quarantine in human history, with hundreds of millions of people around the world observing mandatory quarantine.
16. This is the first time in recorded history that so many people have been urged to stay home and limit human contact to prevent the spread of a disease.