AUG 20, 2024 | Demi Zheng
an article we read in AP European History
Today, we were assigned to read and annotate an article written by Jacob Soll titled "Can America Benefit from Covid? Ask 14th-Century Florence (POLITICO, 07/25/2020)". Soll compares the coronavirus pandemic of 21st century to the Black Death in the Late Middle Ages of European History. He believes that we should look to Northern Italy, specifically Florence, as an example, because of how they recovered from the plague.
Most people know of the Black Death --- a deadly plague originating from rats, first as an endemic disease in China, which then spread to Europe by a combination of factors, including Mongols, travelers, merchants, etc. Historians estimate it killed over a third of Europe's population.
Recovery from this catastrophic event was gradual and took place in different stages in different parts of Europe. In parts of Northern Italy, where the basic economic structure had been strong before the plague, recovery was quick and cities began to grow again.
In Florence, more than half the population were killed by the Black Death. Plagues are't racist or elitist or classist: as many wealthy people died as poor ones did. Suddenly, many wealthy, old-money elites, who controlled the economic and political systems of Florence, were gone. As such, seeing the openings, many lower class peoples sought opportunities for upward social mobility. Everything became more diverse and accepting: city government allowed representation from people of all backgrounds, schools opened up to all classes, the legal system was more fair, etc. Many of the great Renaissance artists and thinkers were actually sons of lower class peoples (Leonardo Da Vinci, Filippo Lippi, Donatello...)
Talent, much like the plague, isn't racist or elitist or classist: geniuses can be born not only to the wealthy but also to the poor. The difference is that wealthy genuises have the resources to receive an education and demonstrate their intellect, while poor ones might never be recognized or found. Florence was able to build a system that recognized the talents of all and granted those who otherwise wouldn't have the opportunity a chance to move up.
Soll argues in his article that America is moving in the exact opposite direction after coronavirus: "But the signs, right now, are that America at least is heading the wrong way. As the economy crumbles, low- and middle-income workers are being laid off, while at the other end the stock market has soared and the net worth of wealthy Americans continues to grow. Small businesses are shutting down; Amazon has never been more valuable. Many privileged Americans are profiting and staying safe, while economically insecure Americans walk into risky jobs, and young people, the poor and immigrants—a natural talent pool to help build the future—are increasingly blocked from even entering the country."
So, could America have benefited from Covid as Florence did from the Black Death? I don't think so.
To start, one cannot simply compare the Black Death to the coronavirus. The Black Death wiped out a third of Europe's population, an estimated 75-200 million people. The coronavirus has killed around 7 million, a number that, while still saddening, pales in comparison. Over half of Florence's population died, allowing for the poor to come in and fill the holes. In America, the extent of change that occurred, for most people, came in the form of a cramped living lifestyle (quarantine) or pertained to the economy (job layoffs, rising prices, and more).
This is not me diminishing the stories of people who suffered a great deal from the pandemic --- lost family members, financial insecurity, and mental health disorders which arose from long periods in isolation are all extremely valid and big problems. You just simply cannot compare COVID with the bubonic plague.
Additionally, the healthcare system of the 21st century is way more sophisticated and advanced than that of 14th century Europe. However, while the wealthy and the poor were equal in the face of plague and death back then, that is not the case now. Nowadays, rich people have access to better healthcare, hospitals, and support mechanisms than poor people do. As reported by a study published in 2022 titled "Relationship Between Income Level and Hospitalization Rate in COVID-19 Cases; an Example of Social Factors Affecting Health" conducted by Ali Maher, Hamed Dehnavi, Elham Salehian, Mona Omidi, and Khatereh Hannani, "A review of data from 178 countries/regions indicates that socioeconomic factors can significantly affect the risk of COVID-19. Poor people who do not usually have access to health services are more vulnerable in times of crisis. Low socioeconomic status (SES) is widely associated with disease and mortality."
Covid was not a big enough crisis to completely alter the socio-economic frameworks upon which America was built. The rich are getting richer while the poor are still getting poorer. We could not have leveraged the pandemic to change this.
Throughout our middle school and high school classes, every time we learn about the Black Death they rattle off the list of negative consequences (death toll, crop failure, labor shortages, etc.) But they also slip in a slide or two about the POSITIVE impacts of it, glorifying the plague as some sort of changemaker which ushered in the golden age of Europe --- the Renaissance.
So now I pose a question to you: if you knew there was going to be a deadly pandemic that killed off a third of your country and put everyone through years of pain and suffering BUT brought upon a new golden age of technology, arts, and intellectual thought and an economy that might be a little better, would you make the tradeoff? WTF? Of course not. Maybe I'm not thinking advanced enough or something but that is straight up inhumane.
The negative consequences of the plague were so bad that it completely overshadows and eclipses any "positive impacts" you think it might have had. If it weren't for the plague, Europe would've achieved that golden age anyways. In some parts of Europe it took cities 80 years to recover from the 4 years of ravaging the plague did.
NB: The widely accepted dates for the Black Death are 1347-1351AD/CE. The Renaissance started in the early 14th century (1300s) before the plague but reached its height between the 1490s and 1520s. So technically, the plague INTERRUPTED the development of the Renaissance movement. Who knows?
Or maybe I'm wrong. Let me know.