– Albert Camus, The PlagueFrom 1665 to 1666, the Great Plague spread through London. In 1722, Daniel Defoe, of Robinson Crusoe fame, published A Journal of the Plague Year. Plagues always come and go, from smallpox, bubonic plague, and influenza to the coronavirus. In reading Defoe’s Journal, one senses his descriptions of the plague could be used for our encounter with today’s Covid-19. Alas, such closures, even if they are necessary to stem the tide of the virus, come with significant consequences for the economy and human lives.