Ebola. Send in FedEx.

Living not far from Eyam and Wikipedea I’m aware the Black Death killed 45% of the European population in four years. Eyam because there’s a boulder in the middle of a field with holes in it. They were used to put coins in in payment for food and were probably filled with some form of disinfectant, a way to isolate the inhabitants. The current west’s response in contrast is to provide hospital beds to care for the victims. It’s how we do it these days and we’re proud of our medical technology but it’s like chasing the virus rather than starving it of new victims. We do have an advanced logistical mindset and in a sense sending in FedEx might give better results. By creating pre isolating measures rather than post isolation after the virus has had chance to spread we can beat it. As it’s incubation is typically three weeks to death or survival with only the last week as communicable creating a fire wall of pre isolation  whilst still isolating, caring for and where necessary disposing of bodies seems far better than just the latter. For example if each family group is told to stay home and delivered ‘clean’ food for three weeks though some will become ill the virus has nowhere to go. It’s what they did in the Black Death and it makes perfect sense. And we’ve got the logistic capability to do it. Like a local leader said, “we have to break our customary habit of shaking hands.” In this case it might not be medical rocket science.