Iannuccilli: A Siren Call to Quarantine
Monday, March 23, 2020
The only time I remember anything that resembled a quarantine was confinement during WW II, when we were ‘ordered’ to stay in the house at the sounding of a siren. The fear of a local bombing was engendered by the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor.
The warning meant we had to dim the lights, pull the blinds and stay quiet. Being young and curious, I peered out the window to see a man in the darkness wearing a white hat, patrolling our neighborhood, a roaming flashlight in hand. He was a deputized air raid warden walking his beat to be sure we were following the rules. Serving as the eyes and ears of the nation’s defense force, he flashed his light from house to house, window to window. I instinctively ducked. “Why do we have to stay in, Dad?”
“There may be a bomb attack. You know, there are enemy submarines just off the Rhode Island shore where we go on summer Sundays. It’ll be OK by morning.” A brief shutting of the lights was nothing to resemble a quarantine, but served at that time to give me a taste of incipient fear and the need to hunker down.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTThe practice of quarantine for diseases that can kill began during the 14th century in an effort to protect coastal cities from plague epidemics. Ships arriving in Venice from infected ports were required to sit at anchor for forty days before landing. This practice, called quarantine, was derived from the Italian words Quaranta Giorni which means forty days.
In the early days of our country, little was done to prevent the importation of infectious diseases. Protections fell under local and state authorities making sporadic attempts to impose quarantines. Persistent outbreaks of yellow fever prompted Congress in 1878 to pass legislation.
In the late 19th century, outbreaks of cholera from passenger ships arriving from Europe prompted a reinterpretation of the law, giving the federal government more authority in imposing seclusion. Local authorities came to realize the benefits of federal involvement, so quarantine stations were gradually turned over to the U.S. government. Additional facilities were built and the staff was increased. Today, federal and local personnel respond to reports of ill travelers aboard airplanes, ships, and at land border crossings to make an assessment of the public health risk and initiate an appropriate response. There is nothing new.
Though measles, mumps, rubella, and chickenpox, are not contained in the list of quarantined illnesses, they pose a health risk to the public. We love our freedom here in America, but sometimes, for the good of all, so not to spread harm to others, that freedom must have limitations.
Listen up. Stay home. Get ALL your immunizations, children especially.
Pay attention to your health and to that of your fellow citizens. It is the one thing we can do to insure national well-being. For now, we confine with care for ourselves and our colleagues.
We are in an airborne raid. Heed the siren.
Ed Iannuccilli is the author of "Growing up Italian" and "What Ever Happened to Sunday Dinner?" and "My Story Continues" can be found here.
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