Using a Tactic Unseen in a Century, Countries Cordon Off Ebola-Racked Areas

Author(s)
McNeil Jr., D.G.
Publication language
English
Pages
4pp
Date published
12 Aug 2014
Publisher
The New York Times
Type
Articles
Keywords
Disasters, Epidemics & pandemics, Urban

The Ebola outbreak in West Africa is so out of control that governments there have revived a disease-fighting tactic not used in nearly a century: the “cordon sanitaire,” in which a line is drawn around the infected area and no one is allowed out.

Cordons, common in the medieval era of the Black Death, have not been seen since the border between Poland and Russia was closed in 1918 to stop typhus from spreading west. They have the potential to become brutal and inhumane. Centuries ago, in their most extreme form, everyone within the boundaries was left to die or survive, until the outbreak ended.