Not certain if this is what you are after, but the story of Eyam's response as a community to an outbreak of bubonic plague is one of sacrifice for the greater good. Eyam was a village in England. Villagers agreed to a voluntary quarantine in 1665, even though this condemned many to death. Fleeing might have been safer for individuals, but would also have carried and spread the plague to others, potentially.

Colourful and powerful stuff. By cordoning themselves off they experienced a severe epidemic of the disease. So the story goes.

Phillip Race has written an interesting paper examining critically this story that has developed in part to near apocryphal mythology. He teases out one element of the story: the arrival of the plague in the village via a box of cloth from London, complete with plague bearing fleas. Race assesses previous critiques of the story, outlining that the illness that befell the owner of the box seems too rapid for some critics, so it seems likely that over time the story has been embellished. This and other elements may have their origins in oral history.

Despite the difficulties Race highlights in getting at what really happened during events hundred of years ago, he concludes by acknowledging the devastation the plague wrought this community.