Advancements in Transportation Do Not Increase the Speed of the Plague
One fact about the bubonic plague that is hard to understand is that it spread faster during the middle ages then bubonic plagues traveled in the 20th century. Today it is widely believed that the Black Death spread at a rate of a mile per day and other estimates put its rate closer to 8 miles a day. This is somewhat staggering when you consider the rate of travel for plagues of the 20th century.
Scientists in South Africa, New Orleans and other areas that were hit by the bubonic plague in the 20th century created experiments that would allow them to track and clock the speed of the plague that was occurring. What they found was that the plague in the 20th century was moving no faster than 8 miles a year. So even with high speed trains, cars and planes the rate of spread of the bubonic plague was much slower in the modern era that it was during the medieval era.
While some might credit this to better hygiene or medical treatment, that does not really affect the spread of the plague. The modern bubonic plague was a rodent disease and it was spread by the house rat. In the modern era it is rare for a home to have rats and if one is seen, it is typically dealt with rather quickly. So, with few rats around to transfer and spread the plaque, it moves at a snail’s pace compared to the medieval era. Some of this does have to do with cleanlier habits around the home but it also shows that even as the speed of transportation increased it did not increase the rate of spread of the bubonic plague in local areas.