Love that, instead of say paying her a small stipend, the state decided that all it needed to do was have her sign away her only means for obtaining a decent wage. Apparently no one in power believed public health was worth more than $50 a month.
We truly have learned little as a society about how to deal with infectious disease on a wide scale. Today, several state governors are opting out of federal unemployment protection in an effort to force people back into labor that doesn't value their health and safety or pay enough to live decently[1].
Although the pandemic has been bad, the number of deaths is proportionally much lower than both the 1918 and 1957 outbreaks. We still have a lot to learn, but government action in this pandemic has prevented a lot of deaths.
Worldometer puts the number of covid deaths currently at 3,823,503, which is probably a substantial undercount.
Wikipedia says the number of deaths due to 1957 pandemic is between 1 and 4 million [1].
World population is about 3 times what it was in 1957, so maybe the 1957 pandemic was worse per-capita, but I think with the large error bars it's hard to say for sure.
Also, the current pandemic isn't over yet (even if it has slowed down substantially in those parts of the world that have good vaccination campaigns).
It might be a good idea to include her common alias (Typhoid Mary) somewhere in the title, considering that moniker is far more prominent than her legal name.
...on the other hand, the article notes that she hated being called that.
Calling her by her real name is a bit more respectful, and when people click on the link without recognizing the name (as I did), it serves as a good reminder that she was a regular human being born with an unfortunate medical condition.
That was my instinctive reaction as well. However once I learnt that the concept of asymptomatic carriers wasn't even known at the time, and that she received negative tests for typhoid, I became less convinced that I would have behaved much differently.
- being told she can't do the only profession she knew
With the "asymptomatic story" being delivered by male doctors, likely US born, you can understand why she believed it was simply another case of people out to get her!
Stories like this would make a person believe in being cursed. She killed so many people by simply being present in their house, not understanding or knowing how or why Typhoid followed her everywhere she went.
She was the X-Men's Rogue of the early 1900s, suffered a horrible fate tied to a decently long life, and to this day her name is invoked in mockery.
I don't really know if her name is involved in mockery per-se - I think she's more of an example of both 1) how quickly a pandemic can spread and 2) the fact that asymptomatic carriers are a real danger since they can continue working and interacting in society as normal while just as virulent as someone coughing up a lung.
During this pandemic society has been extremely aware of the dangers of assuming someone is fine and not a carrier by their appearance - we've managed to normalize temperature testing, hand washing and wearing a mask regardless of your symptoms. I wouldn't hold ill will against Mary Mallon myself - I think her terrible experience ended up being a huge wake up call to public safety.
"The public" is really fucking bad at learning responsible behavior.
In her defense, she was illiterate and was literally unable to understand the evidence against her. How did they know that she was giving people a disease that she never had? And how did they know that there was no way that they couldn't have caught it from elsewhere?
How would you response if a government bureaucrat showed up and told YOU that you can't be allowed work because you have a unique condition never before seen by science? Would you simply believe them?
I think it's fair to take a little short hand for clarity when it comes to historical figures. We do call a particular Roman "Octavian" when he would vehemently deny that fact and proclaim loudly that his full legal name is Gaius Julius Caeser[1].
If Mary Mallon were alive today it'd be in extremely poor taste to call her Typhoid Mary to her face - but that name seems to be the historical consensus and we're not going to change it on HN.
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustus it was a whole thing but he put significant effort into being the heir in name and perception of that other Caeser guy.
She was directly connected to 5 fatalities, although some estimations place that number over 50.
The wiki goes on to say that other carriers of Salmonella Typhus were not villified.
'Other healthy typhoid carriers identified in the first quarter of the 20th century include Tony Labella, an Italian immigrant, presumed to have caused over 100 cases (with five deaths); an Adirondack guide dubbed "Typhoid John", presumed to have infected 36 people (with two deaths); and Alphonse Cotils, a restaurateur and bakery owner.'
Dude, they told this woman not to work at the only job she could support herself in but refused to provide her any meaningful support. She's not the selfish one in this story.
I think her real name must be generally known and associated with her nickname. I've never gone out of my way to learn anything about her [before today] but I knew who this was about just from the title. I think I must have picked up this knowledge through general pop culture.
I just wanted to use this as an opportunity to call out what I believe to be the finest song about Mary Mallon, by the finest musical act named after Mary Mallon...
"Plagues and Bacon" by Hail Mary Mallon (Aesop Rock and Rob Sonic). Some NSFW lyrics. It's a jam.
We truly have learned little as a society about how to deal with infectious disease on a wide scale. Today, several state governors are opting out of federal unemployment protection in an effort to force people back into labor that doesn't value their health and safety or pay enough to live decently[1].
1. https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/558229-first-four-s...