As 2020 has been pretty dull so far officials in China have decided to spice it up with an announcement that they are dealing with a suspected outbreak of the bubonic plague. You've no doubt heard of it. It's also known as "black death" or simply "the plague". It killed an estimated 50 million in the 1300's when the population of the earth was about 400 million. So now that we're about 7 billion that would mean we'd lose 840,000,000 to have the same impact.
It wasn't a one time thing either. The plague killed about 1/5th of London in1665, and 12 million died of the disease during the 19th century in China and India.
In 2017, an outbreak in Madagascar saw more than 300 cases, and even last year 2 people died in Mongolia.
A herdsman in the city of Bayannur which is about 560 miles northwest of Beijing is in stable condition, while a second suspected case involving a 15-year-old is under investigation.
On the good news tip Doctors say that they can treat the plague with antibiotics so no one should die of it here, but it's just another thing to worry about.