The Plague was a novel published in 1947 by Nobel Prize winning author Albert Camus. It took place in Oran, a city in Algeria. Hundreds of diseased rats died in the streets. The problem was ignored until there were thousands of dead rats. (The first plague was indifference.) The newspaper reported the strange occurrence. (The second plague was confusion.) Suddenly, the people panicked. In a swift effort to return to normalcy, city officials collected the rats and cremated them. (The third plague was haste.)
Incidentally, collecting the rat corpses initiated the bubonic plague.
After one man died unexpectantly from a fever, two doctors recognized the correlating symptoms and concluded an epidemic could spread through the city. The doctors informed city officials that — the plague — caused the death of a man with a non-life-threatening fever, but the officials thought the doctors were overreacting to a single death. (The fourth plague was denial.)
Within days more people died.
It was apparent an epidemic engulfed the city, but officials were slow to accept the seriousness of the matter. (The fifth plague was disbelief.) Once the grim reality was accepted…