The Rabbis gave practical instructions for living in a town visited by plague.
When pestilence walks the streets, do not walk down the middle of the road. The middle is where the angel of death prefers to cross, and he moves quickest along open paths.
Do not enter a synagogue alone. If no children are learning there and no quorum of ten men has gathered to pray, the angel of death hides his weapons inside the empty building, using the sanctuary as a storehouse. Only study and prayer turn the room back into a refuge.
And watch the dogs.
When the dogs of a town begin to howl in the night without cause, the angel of death has entered the town. But when the dogs play, chasing each other in the dust with loose happiness, it is a sign that Elijah the prophet has come near. The sages caution against over-reading: if a female is among the pack, the commotion may mean nothing more than nature. The sign holds only for males sporting together for no visible reason.
Bava Kamma 60b preserves these folk-warnings. Pay attention to what the ordinary world is telling you. The angel of death passes through streets. So does Elijah.