9 April 2020

Forty days


 Yesterday's announcement that the lockdown will be prolonged (presumably for two more weeks) came as no surprise. In the Middle Ages the practice of quarantine (from Italian quaranta giorni; forty days - quarantaine in French) was considered the minimum amount of time needed, they noticed, to remain in confinement to prevent an epidemic from spreading. The term dates from the days of the Plague in the 14th century when ships would sit at anchor in the Venice harbor for forty days before landing. April 25th will be our quarantaine. What will it bring? - BPJ
 
Update: It brought another lockdown. And another.

No comments: :

Post a Comment