For context, we have been here before - The Forgotten Plague - American Experience

[The Blue Flower]

1. Interesting info from the mid-1600s on this topic

I'm reading Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe. He chronicles life in London during that plague year. I was surprised that he called it an "infection". People knew it could be contained by keeping people isolated and then burning their belongings if they died. The city's bureaucracy was enlisted with specific jobs to monitor the spread and there were severe penalties for not doing their jobs.

The book is available for free at www.gutenberg.org. I recommend it highly for an intimate look at living through what happens to a society under that pressure.