Scary Mary

Long before hand sanitizers, Clorox(r) wipes, and Charmin(r) disappeared from our grocery store shelves; long before our nation's churches, schools, theaters, sports arenas, beaches, gyms, and restaurants locked their doors and turned out their marquee lights; long before CDC travel restrictions grounded entire fleets of jets and crippled international airports while stranding thousands; and long before Americans were commanded to wear masks everywhere they went––110 years before COVID–19 was ever declared a worldwide pandemic––a simple, unassuming red–haired domestic named Mary Mallon freely roamed the sidewalks of New York. And wherever she went, people died.To this very day, her name remains synonymous with hygiene, infection, disease...and death.The only thing that will give you more chills is her ice cream!

-- Daniel T. Albaugh