A microscopic view of the COVID-19 virus: Pandemics Move the World Forward: A history of humanity’s progression via pandemics

Authors

Harold Johnson, St. Mary's UniversityFollow

Publication Date

2020

Collection

Capstones

Advisor

Lindsey Wieck, Aaron Moreno, Kathleen Conti (historical consultant)

Description

This project argues that pandemics have the ability to move the world forward in ways such as causing economic shifts, leading to new medical innovations and stimulate changes to current religious ideas. By examining past pandemics, such as bubonic plague, the influenza outbreak of 1918 and smallpox, this project demonstrates how humanity has risen to the challenge pandemics create. Through innovations, invention and societal changes, pandemics are often the catalyst for major changes in the world. As the world wrestles with COVID-19, it is good to remind ourselves of humanity’s resilience and to consider what the lasting results of the pandemic will be.

Keywords

COVID-19, Plague, Black Death, CDC, WHO, pandemic, epidemic, economic shifts, innovations, religion

Document Type

Article

Medium

manuscript, digital exhibit

Format

pdf

Size or Duration

8 pages

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

Publisher

Digital Commons at St. Mary's University

City

San Antonio, Texas