Sounds like there are some parallels. I'm not sure if it's the same in this case, but Mary Mallon was given a court order to give up her job as a cook, but that was the best paying job she could get, so lacking the financial resources necessary to survive without that job she returned to it.
I think the public policy lesson there is: you can't just tell people to stop doing things they have to do in order to exist. If it's necessary in rare cases to tell people to stop working, then it's up to the state to provide them the financial resources to survive.
Germ theory was also pretty new at the time and not something most working class people would know about, nor did Mary have symptoms.
Contrary to today, germ theory is taught in elementary schools and is well understood by basically everyone. And this woman was clearly experiencing symptoms bad enough to require an ER visit! Visiting the ER likely also means that most of the common religious reasons such as being a Christian Scientist are out the window.
The previous discussion of this situation (link needed) had some discussion on typhoid Mary. That previous thread was actually where I learned about the story.
elihu|3 years ago
I think the public policy lesson there is: you can't just tell people to stop doing things they have to do in order to exist. If it's necessary in rare cases to tell people to stop working, then it's up to the state to provide them the financial resources to survive.
bbatha|3 years ago
Contrary to today, germ theory is taught in elementary schools and is well understood by basically everyone. And this woman was clearly experiencing symptoms bad enough to require an ER visit! Visiting the ER likely also means that most of the common religious reasons such as being a Christian Scientist are out the window.
kkielhofner|3 years ago
[0] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Mallon
thornewolf|3 years ago