Fighting the Plague: Progress and Problems
Here's the encouraging bit - people had actually learned quite a lot since the Black Death struck 317 years earlier. Local governments weren't completely useless anymore and had organised proper responses to the crisis.
Quarantine became much more effective, with strict rules about isolating infected households. Dead bodies were collected efficiently and buried at least six feet deep in special plague pits (hence the phrase "six feet under"). Authorities banned public gatherings, stopped trade, and even shut the border between England and Scotland.
Those iconic plague doctors wandered around in their bizarre bird-like masks stuffed with sweet-smelling herbs. They genuinely believed this would protect them from the "bad air," and whilst their science was completely wrong, the suits probably did help prevent infection by acting as a barrier.
Reality Check: Despite all these improvements, nobody actually understood that fleas on rats were spreading the disease - they were fighting blind!
Unfortunately, quack doctors took advantage of desperate people, giving them opium and other drugs that made patients feel temporarily better whilst actually creating addictions. However, Renaissance medicine was slowly improving - more towns had proper pharmacies, hospitals focused on actually treating patients rather than just praying for them, and medical books helped people treat illnesses at home.