The beguinage: anxiously waiting in the quarantine house

Just next to the entrance and isolated from the rest of the court, was the quarantine house. In the ancien regime, caring institutions such as monastic orders that work outpatiently during epidemics to care for the sick at home or to bury the deceased had a quarantine house. After their dangerous task, the nurses stayed here, isolated from the rest of the community, until it was certain that they too were not infected. In periods of plague, a quarantine lasted forty days. In case of dysentery, this was only 10 days. Like the infirmary, the quarantine house was located on the edge of the court to limit the risk of infection. Contact with the healthy residents was avoided: food and drinks were placed in front of the door or handed to them with a stick.

Jan Rymenams