Boccaccio describes the responses of the people to the plague as mostly doing whatever they could to prevent contamination, though there were some who took little precautions when dealing with those who were afflicted. For the most part, the sick were avoided and/or shunned and left to their own devices. Spouses abandoned one another, children were left unattended or abandoned, family members separated themselves from one another, neighbors stayed away from those who were ill. Sometimes, individuals would leave their sick relatives with servants who tended minimally to the sick. Most often, these servants would basically watch the sick die. For those who were actively dying, they died a lonely and secluded death with no loved ones around to
