COVID-19是现代最具挑战性的全球健康问题之一。然而,自从我们起源以来,流行病一直影响着人类,在我们面前的许多人已经描述了它们对人类生活的重大影响。分开与医学和健康科学更相关的方面,我们在这里重点分析流行病如何迫使人们改变他们的习惯,他们促进什么样的情绪和行为,以及由不同的社会行为者扮演的角色。为了这个目的,特别是如果我们希望在过去的流行病和COVID-19之间找到一些相似之处,历史记录似乎比文学作品更合适。尽管如此,我们采取了这种方法,依靠LaPeste(AlbertCamus,1947),根据阿尔及利亚奥兰镇虚构的瘟疫流行的小说。远非制造将小说与现实分开的障碍,这个阅读使我们能够与我们目前的情况建立几个联系。认识到两种情况下的背景和解决方案差异很大,关于流行病的核心问题似乎保持不变。数据和统计的重要作用,卫生当局获得的领导,亲戚的分居或对贸易和商业的负面影响是奥兰以及当今发生的一些问题。除此之外,流行病也在个体层面影响人类,LaPeste的主要角色中的某些思想和感受可能使我们认同自己的恐惧和欲望。
COVID-19 represents one of the most challenging global health issues in modern times. However, as epidemics have affected humans since our origins, many before us have described how significantly they compromise human lives. Leaving apart the aspects more linked to medicine and health sciences, we focus here on analysing how epidemics force people to change their habits, what type of emotions and behaviours they promote, and which roles are played by different social actors. For such a purpose, especially if we wish to draw some parallels between past epidemics and COVID-19, historical records seemed to be more suitable than literary works. Nonetheless, we have taken this approach relying on La Peste (Albert Camus, 1947), a novel based on a fictional epidemic of plague in the Algerian town of Oran. Far from creating a barrier separating fiction from reality, this reading allowed us to establish several links with our current situation. Recognising that context and solutions vary widely between the two scenarios, core matters concerning epidemics seemed to remain invariable. The important role of data and statistics, the leadership acquired by health authorities, the separations of relatives or the negative effects on trade and business are some issues which took place in Oran as well as nowadays. Besides that, epidemics also affect humans at an individual level, and certain thoughts and feelings in La Peste\'s main characters may make us identify with our own fears and desires.