My dude, there was a yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia - the nation’s fucking capital - during Washington’s second term. It killed 10 percent of the city’s population in September and October 1793, setting quarantines, roadblocks, and plague patrols into motion. https://twitter.com/jim_jordan/status/1343928371454103553

New York, Baltimore, and other cities and towns throughout the mid-Atlantic either barred refugees from Philadelphia from entry or subjected them to strict quarantines to thwart the fever’s spread.

Most wealthier Philadelphians bugged the fuck out of the city early enough to evade the lockdown. This included most of the federal government (with the exception of post office and treasury workers), as well as most of Philadelphia’s city council.

Among the more responsible local officials was a fellow named Matthew Clarkson, the mayor at the time. He was an otherwise unmemorable public servant who worked his ass off to feed the quarantined, bury the dead, and establish temporary hospitals to care for the sick.

One of the notable founders who remained, the physician Benjamin Rush, sounded the alarm early, urged quarantine measures, and recommended bloodletting and mercury treatments instead of the customary practice of purging.

Rush also urged Black Philadelphians to join the caregiving ranks, falsely believing that African Americans enjoyed greater immunity to the fever. In the end, Blacks in Philly perished at the same rate as whites while disproportionately carrying the load of tending to the ill.

None of their efforts prevented whites from spreading conspiracy theories suggesting that blacks were profiting from the epidemic, or from promoting malicious rumors about black nurses, who were falsely accused of stealing from the homes of their patients.

So what would the Founders think about 2020? One response would be, “Who fucking cares? You’re not my real dad.”

A more thoughtful response would be that a lot of them would find it pretty familiar. Some would hunker down; some would offer earnest help and marshal government as responsibly as possible; others would spread misinformation and bullshit.

Ordinary Americans would also find it pretty familiar. I’d imagine Richard Allen and Absalom Jones - the two black ministers who led the response of the free black community in Philly (and later had to defend it in print) - would have a lot to say about the current pandemic.