Though it was not yet practised, yet was threatened, and people were extremely terrified at the thoughts of it.

From A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe.  

But those were trifling things to what followed immediately after; for now the weather set in hot, and from the first week in June the infection spread in a dreadful manner, and the bills rose high; the articles of the fever, spotted-fever, and teeth began to swell; for all that could conceal their distempers did it, to prevent their neighbours shunning and refusing to converse with them, and also to prevent authority shutting up their houses; which, though it was not yet practised, yet was threatened, and people were extremely terrified at the thoughts of it.

Parallels with today:

The desperate need for human interaction.

The desperate need for mobility.  Just as we were astonished to find shelves cleared of cleaners and paper towels and the like, in 1665 Londoners were even more dependent on their mobility to purchase needed goods.  No refrigerators so most homes would have had at most a couple of days of food supply which, absent helping neighbors, would lead to starvation. 

The abhorrence associated with shutting down the city.  Since 1665 we have feared government coercively shutting down our homes and the economy.  Apparently there is a well grounded atavistic urban populace memory of the consequences of shutdowns.