Delving into the diaries of Samuel Pepys, Barry Monk draws comparisons between the current pandemic and the Great Plague, which over the course of about a year, from 1665 to 1666, killed about 20% of the population of London. Pepys describes empty streets, a lack of understanding on how the disease was being spread, and people waiting anxiously to hear their parish's weekly death toll, all of which can be related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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