In Paris, 800 people a day were dying. Hospitals were overwhelmed when 1/3 of Paris perished. The plague moved into rural areas of Scandinavia and wiped out nearly 60% of the population of Iceland. The King of the Swedes, Magnus, proclaimed, "God's striking us down because we lead immoral lives." The plague was thought to be a punishment from God. The flagellants proclaimed this by marching for 33 days of self-mortification in groups of 50-300, where they would sing songs to God and pray as they would beat or whip themselves for the sins they have committed to try and even things out, so to speak, with God. People at this time also began to encourage Jewish pogroms, and people who were infected began to attack the Jews. They needed someone to blame, so they blamed the Jews, because the Jewish population had a lower mortality rate than the Christians. There was much anti-Semitism and animosity between these religious groups in the days of the Great Mortality. In Straus burg alone, 200 Jews were burned to death and robbed, however, in Manse, Jews fought back and killed 200+ Christians, but soon after they were slain themselves by angry Christians. Poland was the only safe haven for Jews during the plague; Poland accommodated them and gave them refuge from persecution. .
The ramifications of the Black Death were as follows: twenty-three million people died, that's 35%-50% of the entire population. The medical community began their preparations for the next waves of the plague and built more hospitals. The plague would return ever 2-20 years after the first epidemic for several decades. The plague also instituted some improvements on sanitation, such as garbage collections. Cities also began boards of health and public health commissions. People did not understand about germs and microbes that were causing them to die, but they did know that the more filth that surrounded them, the more people would die.