WHAT CAN HISTORY TEACH US?
Did you realise that in the 17th Century Europeans had healthcards/ID cards, and the word quarantine comes from Latin and Italians for 40 and was used during the “Black Death” in 1347 to 1350 when 1/3 of European population was wiped out?
The Medici dynasty in today’s money alleged to be worth $129 billion having made its fortune from banking and trading and was responsible arguably in creating Florence to be the epicentre of renaissance
In the winter of 1629 the Plague had been found Villfranche and Languedoc in Southern France so to stop it reaching the Medicis sent Florence guards to be posted on roads to that entered the city.
Even in those days people had medical cards, if they did not have one to confirm they were not infected they were turned back or arrested, if they refused they were shot – now that is what I call extreme violation of human rights.
Florence citizens where asked to stay in their homes for ‘quarantine ‘i.e. 40 days and city officials delivered food to them- while the plague doctor wandered the street shipping off those that were infected to a hospital out side the city. Due to these precautions the death toll in Florence compared to other cities was much lower
Florence 12% died compared to Verona 60%
The plague in the 17th Century arguably caused a shift in power from the Southern Mediterranean region to Northern Europe as the % of population died that died in Naples 30% was , while in France 14% and in the UK 10% it was.
1631 French Parliament ordered every locality to set up a health board and issue health cards so its citizens could be tracked- now are you beginning to see the similarities between a pandemic 400 years ago and covid-19?
Will we see a return of vaccination certificates and health data being required for international travel? A Blockchain-powered platform to securely hold and share this type of personal data, which can be shared on a permissioned basis by the owner of the data must make more sense that paper documentation?
Such an idea is behind the COVID-19 Credentials Initiative (CCI) which creates digital certificates issued by health care institutions but controlled by the user and shared in a peer-to-peer manner
While there are totally understandable concerns over confidentiality around the compulsory introduction of ID cards in countries where there has been much stricter controls and monitoring lives have been saved and the economic impact of covid-19 has been less.
So maybe there are indeed lessons to be learned from history and using digital technologies like Blockchain to help fight covid-19 and any other future pandemics?
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