The case for Quarantine or كرانتينا (E. Arabic) or الحجر الصحي (MCA) and President Trump is very correct to ban flights from Europe

Submitted by dhimmi no more (United States), Mar 12, 2020 at 17:13

Dr. Pipes,

I'm sure that you are aware that the etymology of the word "quarantine" is from French and or Italian word: Forty (days), and the 40 days is really a fossilized "Topos of 40/400/4000" of the antique and late antique worlds in the Middle East

The Topos of 40 really means "many, acme and or top" And we have the 40 years in the Bible (Jews wondering in the Sinai for 40 years), Muhammad receiving his revelations from his God at age 40, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves etc...

Human beings realized that keeping the strangers out of their towns and cities during pandemics was a logical solution. Enter the topos of 40 and indeed 40 days became the quarantine period and it seems to work

Examples from history: The Egyptian scholar Rifaa el-Tahtawi رفاعة الطهطاوي who traveled to France in 1826 and he describes having to be in a quarantine in France for 40 days before he was allowed to travel from the port of Marseilles to Paris. Also, Egyptians that went to Mecca for the Hajj had to stay 40 days in a quarantine station in the Southern Sinai called جبل الطور or Gabal el-Tur

And this really worked very well and in the case Gabal el-Tur there is class of Cholera called "el Tur Strain" that was discovered in 1905 in the quarantine station and must have prevented Egyptians in the Nile valley from contracting the potentially deadly disease the Cholera.

President Trump is very correct to ban flights from the main locales for Wuhan Coronavirus now including China, Korea, Iran and the European Union. It is also a case for refuting the crazy idea by the regressive left of open borders.

This is truly Epidemiology 101

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