Feature written by Sophie Crabtree, who you can follow on Twitter @CrabSophie
If you're looking for the latest safety information regarding the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19), visit the World Health Organisation (WHO) website HERE.
These are certainly alarming and trying times, but throughout history we've survived some brutal beatings from illness, the environment, and often one another. I've complied a list of events that I find reassuring to consider, from fashion faux pas to mass fatalities...
1. The Black Death swept through Europe via rats on cargo boats, culling the population back from 475 million to 350–375 million in the 14th century mass exodus.
2. People threw their hands up in despair, as the year on from the Bubonic Plague, The Great Fire of London destroyed their homes and property too, but it actually helped to cull the disease by thrashing infected materials.
3. The Salem Witch trials from 1692 to 1963 threw Massachusetts and most of Europe into a frenzied state of misjudgement and murder, however we now have a far greater appreciation for women’s holistic knowledge. We don’t literally burn them on stakes at least...
4. On a lighter note, I come to the Low-Rise Jeans Saga of 2007 – what were we thinking? May the appearance of our belly buttons and thongs never return.
5. World War – for the combined duration of over a decade, inexplicable pain and suffering were polarised by strong, supportive communities across the world coming together despite their differences, united in one common goal to stand against prejudice.
6. The AIDs epidemic – 30 years ago a diagnosis would’ve been seen a death sentence, but we've become more understanding of HIV, we’ve trailblazed new medicinal treatments, and death rates have halved as result (one.org).
7. The Great Famine of China – the agricultural failure that killed 45 million in just over two years between 1959-61 is still greatly hushed nearly 60 years later, but the resilience of the people showed through and the country has become one of the most dominant powers in the world.
8. While cancer still claims many lives a year under many of its guises; it's encouraging to hear that although one in seven women in the UK are estimated will develop breast cancer in their lifetime, 78% of people now survive (Breast Cancer Now); prostate cancer has also seen a great decrease in mortality rates from 1971, at just 25%, to 84% in 2011 (Cancer Research UK).
9. Lastly, I’m sure those of us who took part in the activities of the 1990s are still mourning your over-plucked eyebrows, and the rest of us stand with you in solidarity.
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