I understand where the sentiment comes from, but our situation is by leaps and bounds better than even the best historical situation. Not to mention any real contagions.
Medical system overloaded? They had NONE.
Old people dying? They had NONE, because people did not live that long.
Not able to move from home? Almost nobody ever was free to roam. They had to work their asses off in the field every day.
>Old people dying? They had NONE, because people did not live that long.
That one's not actually true[0] -- life expectancy is an average, driven by high child mortality. If you beat age 12, your expected lifespan shot up, and age 60+ wasn't uncommon.
>Not able to move from home? Almost nobody ever was free to roam. They had to work their asses off in the field every day.
For farmers, they wouldn't really have the population density that stay-at-home applies anyways. But contagion requires two things to be a real threat: population density, and population movement.
Density keeps the virus alive, and movement transfers it to new populationa. Farmers and small towns get infected not on their own, but from trade with the major cities and city folk
Medical system overloaded? They had NONE.
Old people dying? They had NONE, because people did not live that long.
Not able to move from home? Almost nobody ever was free to roam. They had to work their asses off in the field every day.