By Jean Blish Siers *

Quarantine comes from the Italian “quaranta giorni” (or forty days), the length of time ships (and their crews) had to remain in the Venetian harbor before they were deemed safe from the plague and allowed to enter the port. Forty days.

We’re smack in the middle of Lent right now, which in the Christian calendar is the solemn time of reflection and repentance leading to Easter ...