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The timeline can be navigated with the “Scroll Left” and “Scroll Right” buttons or by dragging the pointer to a date on the timeline waveform (located at the bottom of the screen on the desktop version and on the left of the screen on mobile). To filter by a particular topic and see a smaller section of the data, make a selection on the dropdown “Filters” menu or click “Search” to do a keyword search. Hover over the abbreviated filter tags in the blue boxes to see the complete name of the filter, or click a filter to display all the data with this tag. If you want to take a deeper dive into a specific topic by viewing a narrative essay page and a curated timeline, click on “Stories.”

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By the end of the 18th century, many cities have quarantine councils.

1790s

PH
EPD

This precursor to the public health system shows up as local councils in cities like Boston, Philadelphia, New York, and Baltimore. The role of the councils is to enforce quarantine and isolation rules to stop the spread of illnesses, such as yellow fever and diphtheria.