If you thought this is done with and buried by our ancestors in history, you are terribly wrong. A California resident has now tested positive for the plague, becoming the first case in five years since the disease has been detected in the state. The plague originated in Asia over 2,000 years ago and was likely spread by trading ships.
The plague changed Europe and Asia in the mid-1300s. It arrived in Europe in 1347 when ships from the Black Sea docked at the port of Messina in Sicily. Most sailors on the ship died of the plague and the ships came to be known as the “death ships”. Over the next five years, the plague killed more than 20 million people in Europe. Social distancing and quarantine were the methods of preventing the spread of the plague.
The pandemic had run its course by the early 1350s, it kep reappearing for centuries. With advances in science and public-health practices, the occurrence and impact of the disease was greatly mitigated. Yet, it is still to be eliminated even today. With the invention of antibiotics, the plague can be treated but around the world, there are still 1,000 to 3,000 cases of plague every year, according to the WHO.
Here is a lovely piece I read that lays out the details rather well. Here is a list of pandemics that changed history. We can definitely add Coronavirus to this.