Quarantines belong to the Stone Age, the Iranian health minister said late last month at a press briefing about COVID 19. The country is in no danger from the virus he said, while coughing and sweating severely. One day later, he was under quarantine. The story helps explain how Iran became one of the countries most affected by the new coronavirus. The government reports more than 17,000 cases of infection and over 1,100 deaths.