1/True story to put COVID-19 quarantine in perspective: In 1727, 11 natives of the isle of Hirta, Scotland, were ferried out to a nearby rock stac to collect eggs. The village boat - manned by a dozen oarsmen - was supposed to come back for them in 2 days' time. It never did.

2/The day after they left, smallpox invaded Hirta, wiping out most of the population. Of 120-odd inhabitants, 17 were spared, nearly all children. Because Hirta was so isolated, no one learned of the tragedy until 8 months later when the steward of Skye came to collect rent owed.

3/The 11 left on the stac remained there the whole 8 months. They had no choice. The stac was a finger of rock with no food or water sources. They drank rainwater, fished with 2 rusty nails for hooks, & patched their clothes with the skins of birds caught with their bare hands.

4/They were marooned from August until March, enduring the bitter winter on the stac, with no idea what had happened to their families separated by a few miles of ocean. How they survived is incredible. And what they found when they returned home must have been indescribable.

5/I attempted to describe it, nonetheless: I wrote a novel about the Hirta smallpox episode for my PhD. I finished the draft but put it aside following my bout with depression when I was diagnosed with MS. I hope to go back to it one day soon. I'd like to try to get it published.

6/ Having spent so much time researching & writing about the Hiortaich & their incredible feats of survival - those who lived through the smallpox as well as those on the stac - I was reminded of them every time I began feeling stir crazy in isolation. And I felt very fortunate.

7/Whether or not others feel the same, I suggest looking up Hirta (St Kilda) for its own sake. It's a fascinating place with a remarkably well documented history. Its isolation enabled the people to maintain their way of life when the rest of the world had moved on.

8/But it also left them vulnerable & without immunity to diseases common elsewhere. Later hardships included a massive spike in infant tetanus deaths & exploitation of the people for tourism. The last residents of Hirta were evacuated in 1930 & resettled on the Scottish mainland.