Image by Shabinh from Pixabay

Is this pandemic unique?

Or, are we simply playing out an old, human pattern?

Since most human beings on Earth have been affected in one way or another by the COVID-19 pandemic, I wondered, how many other times in history have human beings faced a similar situation?

What trends were happening during previous pandemics?

I came across this interesting article from the History Channel with a timeline of major pandemics throughout human history, and noted themes that seem to be repeating themselves:

Then: When we shifted in pre-history from being hunter-gatherers to forming communities and cities, incidences of highly infectious disease rose dramatically (makes sense because of migration and closer human contact).

Now: Over the last 100 years, humankind has been on a mass migration into cities, with 70% of all humans estimated to live in or near a city in the next 30 years. Since COVID-19 and the increasing ability to work online from anywhere, we’re witnessing many people moving out of cities to small towns or in the country.

Then: In 541 A.D., the Justinian plague halted the expansion of the massive Roman Empire. This event was also credited with a growing belief in Christianity, because of apocalyptic prophecy.