The M. I. Mr. Sebastià Crespí Rotger, delivered the opening speech From the plague of 1820 to the COVID 19 pandemic: Reflections on epidemics, science and public health in the Balearic Islands. Dr. Crespí explained in his speech that the plague of 1820 and the evolution in public health since then until the COVID pandemic. “Of the 1,684 inhabitants that Son Servera had, 1,040 died,” he recalled. “In four months the population was reduced to 670 inhabitants.” Dr. Crespí highlighted the relevance of the pandemic of two centuries ago not spreading throughout the island. “It is clear that thanks to the plague of 1820 certain principles of preventive health were introduced,” he pointed out. “There is some cause-and-effect relationship between that traumatic learning and the management of subsequent epidemics.”