COVID-19 and the anti-lessons of history

As the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in China’s Hubei province continues and new cases of the disease increase globally,1 there is pressure on historians to
show the value of history for policy. How can the past assist in the real-time management of the crisis? What insights can be gleaned from the ongoing epidemic for future disease preparedness and prevention? Lurking in the background of these interrogatives is a more or less explicit accusation: why haven’t past lessons been learned? The gist of some commentaries seems to be: “there is almost nothing surprising about this pandemic”.