Coming from the word "quaranta" (which means "forty" in Italian), the idea of confining people for 40 days originated without the authorities really understanding what they wanted to contain. But the measures were one of the first forms of "institutional public health" that helped legitimatize the "accretion of power" by the modern state. This practice had no medical foundation; it was chosen for symbolic and religious reasons. This begs the question - are COVID-19 protocols based on science or...
