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The Jefferson Exchange

From Black Death To COVID, A History Of Quarantine

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Geoff Manaugh and Dr. Luigi Bertinato demonstrate PPE present and past.
Nicola Twilley

We've been using the term "quarantine" quite a bit since March of 2020. And the preventive lockdowns are not really quarantine, says Geoff Manaugh.

He and partner Nicola Twilley know what they're talking about; they've been researching quarantines through history for years now--since well before COVID--for their book Until Proven Safe: The History and Future of Quarantine.

Black Death and other plagues of the past figure prominently in the book, and so does architecture: many structures have been built through the centuries to house people in quarantine.

Geoff Manaugh joins us to talk about the past, and how the recent history with COVID delayed and altered his book.

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The Jefferson Exchange is Jefferson Public Radio's daily news program focused on issues, people and events across Southern Oregon and Northern California. Angela Decker is the program's senior producer, Charlie Zimmermann is the assistant producer, and Geoffrey Riley hosts the show.