“When the cholera was raging in Naples; when the people were dying by the hundreds and hundreds every day; when every concern for the public welfare was swallowed up in selfish private interest, and every citizen made the taking care of himself his sole object, these men banded themselves together and went about nursing the sick and burying the dead. Their noble efforts cost many of them their lives.”

The parallels of today are striking. It is fortunate this time around that we know considerably more about the communicative properties of bacteria and viruses to at least provide some semblance of protection for doctors and nurses.