Mary Mallon
SEASON 1 : EPISODE 3
JUNE 6, 2022
I want you to think back for just a second about the early days of COVID. It was a scary time! The government responded by mandating schools and businesses to close, they ordered curfews, shelter in place, and stay at home orders. And we all had to get on board too, because you could be spreading it and not even know!
But what if the health department, and the police, showed up at your home and said, “We think you’re spreading COVID, and you need to come with us…” Absolutely no one would stand for that! Right?
Well, in the 19th century, government officials had started to realize that public health was a thing they needed to be concerned with. Germ theory had started to take root and people were being asked to adopt all sorts of cleanliness practices that no one thought twice about before. So they were kind of starting to figure out the “why,” but what to do about it was still notfully baked.
Because in 1906, the health department and police did show up at someone’s door, take them away, and force them to quarantine for a cumulative 26 years on an island in the East River in New York City.
This is the story of Mary Mallon, otherwise known as Typhoid Mary.
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