Northern Italy then and today

Alain De Botton, philosopher and writer of 15 books, one of which 'How Proust can change your life' I read.  It's considered witty.  Me, eh. I barely remember it.  It was Proust finely strained to extract the author's views.  Today in the NY Times his article titled 'Camus on the Coronavirus' is about Camus' book "The Plague" which I read 40 years ago, and I remember, especially the image in the beginning of the book of finding one dead rat and then another and then another.
In this piece Botton mentions the Italian plague of 1630, 300 years after the infamous Black Plague. Never heard of 'The Italian Plague'.
So I googled.
It occurred from 1630 to 1633 and hit Lombardy most severely killing 25% of the Italian population.  The plague resulted in the decline of Venice as a commercial and political power.  Venice lost 33% of its population.
It is believed to have been spread by French, German and Venetian troops returning from the 30 years war and it is now identified as the Bubonic Plague.
Today we are hearing about infected asymptomatic individuals with Covid 19 unwittingly spreading this present day pandemic.
Today there are 650 cases of bubonic plague reported annually, with 10% mortality rate with treatment [antibiotics], 30 to 90 % if untreated.
So my takeaway is keep to the basics: always wash your hands for 20 seconds, cover your coughs and sneezes, eat right, exercise, and get plenty of fresh air which by the way right now in New York City is at its best.  And don't go reading Camus' 'The Plague' now.  Another time most definitely. And this

  relax.