I'm feeling a lot more kindly towards medieval folks who thought you could catch the Black Death by staring at someone who had it.

There's an un-peer-reviewed study going around saying you can catch the rona by cycling in someone's slipstream and I can't immediately rule it out

Medieval doctors thought the plague was caused by corrupt air and I mean it turns out the Black Death was partly airborne, so?? That's as close to an understanding of contagion as you're gonna get in a society that hasn't heard of germs

"Wearing pointed shoes" not so much