When you hear the words “bubonic plague”, the horrors of a time ravaged with illness and death probably enter your mind. You may think with the advancements of modern medicine and science that a pandemic like this is a thing of the past, that there is no chance of it returning with a vengeance again. However, this assumption is wrong. On July 4, 2020, a hospital in Bayannur, China told authorities of a suspected plague case, which they confirmed as the bubonic plague three days later. A week after this initial plague case, two more citizens developed plague-like symptoms after eating marmot meat. The city responded with a Level 3 warning, telling its citizens to limit face to face interactions and to avoid the consumption as well as handling of marmots. Marmots are large ground squirrels, resembling groundhogs, and are popular forms of meat for dishes in China and Mongolia. Officials closed five grassland scenic points, enacted stricter regulations of other grassland tourist sites, and told its citizens to not eat or hunt marmots. These plague cases in China come during a time devastated by a comparable influenza, COVID-19 or the novel coronavirus. The novel coronavirus is a viral disease that spreads through respiratory droplets, like from sneezing or coughing. Similar to the bubonic plague, COVID-19, is easily spread and just as deadly. The two pandemics are quite similar in their disastrous effect on humanity; however, when diving deeper into their cellular makeup, they are quite different.