Question

What can you do to avoid the plague? The answer is: very little. Al­though there are no fewer than twenty-three medical treatises dedicated to it by 1600, including hundreds of recipes for medicines, none of them will help you. Nor will perfuming your room and airing it with fire save you—despite this being the official advice of the College of Physicians.

–Traveler's Guide to Elizabethan England,
Ian Mortimer

How does the passage expand on the central idea "the plague was the biggest killer in Elizabethan England"?

It explains that many people died because medicines and medical practices were not effective.
It explains that people were not taking the medical advice of doctors.
It explains that the physicians gave up on trying to stop the spread of disease.
It explains that the medicines and medical practices of the time saved lives.

Answer 1

It supports the first choice: It explains that many people died because medicines and medical practices were not effective. The passage says there were many treatises and recipes but none would help, and even official advice (perfuming/airing with fire) wouldn’t save you.