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 religion?
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A depiction of the Black Death in a 15th-century Italian miniature.
The Myth of Outdoor transmission
While the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has been exaggerating outdoor transmission rate, "the evidence is very clear that outdoor spaces are safer than indoors," says Prof Chris Whitty, the UK's chief medical officer.
The CDC has been greatly exaggerating the risk of COVID-19 transmission outdoors, claiming there is a roughly 10 percent ...