At Cambridge, Food Deliveries to Quarantined Students Are Announced with Actual Plague Bells

Trying to imagine the online form that lets students choose how they'd like to get updates on food deliveries pic.twitter.com/spOl3HWKlC

— Nich?las Guyatt (@NicholasGuyatt) October 30, 2020

The University of Cambridge dates back to 1209 and has thus experienced the travails of pandemics of the past 800 years, including the Black Death. One of the hygienic practices dating back to that time includes ringing a bell to clear space between the infected and the uninfected. This type of hand bell is called a plague bell.

Cambridge students who are self-isolating can select to have their food deliveries announced by plague bell. One difference between now and centuries ago: they make this selection by filling out an online form.

-via Marginal Revolution

Source: neatorama