The story of Dr. John Snow, whose hand drawn map helped convince Londoners to boil their water during the 1854 cholera epidemic that killed 10% of the population, might be of interest to teachers and students during the current COVID-19 pandemic. It's not the story of a virus spread through something like "the miasma theory" of the mid-1800s, but it certainly shows the importance of data visualization and maps in the service of public health information. Our students need geography skills right now to be able to interpret the barrage of maps being used to explain outbreaks, hot spots, spread, and more.
I really like the interactive layers of this John Snow map from Yale University (look for the layers tab at the top left):
https://www.arcgis.com/apps/PublicInformation/index.html?appid=d7deb67f810d46dfacb80ff80ac224e9
For comparison, Johns Hopkins University's Coronavirus Resource Center has an excellent map of the worldwide coronavirus pandemic here:
How are you and your students using geography to explain the coronavirus pandemic?
John Snow Cholera Map, 1854
Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain
3 - 5 6 - 8 9 - 12 13+ Science Social Studies/History geography cholera Dr. John Snow data visualization online learning
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Edited
Oh --- another type of map to think about, and another kind of epidemic.
The Library of Congress has many online maps of contemporary and past diseases. Here is one example from 1874. Carney's series of Medical charts . Diseases include malaria and typhoid.
Students would likely enjoy searching for and looking at these types of maps.
I lived on a farm as a child. Just past a field there is a very small cemetery where victims of a mid 19th cemetery cholera victims were buried. They were Swedish immigrants. About 20 years ago an Eagle Scout group restored the cemetery and established a permanent marker.
Online Learning Cholera Science Social Studies/History 3 - 5 6 - 8 9 - 12 data visualization geography
Excellent addition 
Mary Alice Anderson
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Very timely. This is an excellent example of how maps can convey information and data!
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