In the summer of 2014, the media and state actors panicked over the emergence of an ebola epidemic in Western Africa. The panic was understandable and entirely warranted.
After all, ebola kills around 50% of those infected. Moreover, a cursory examination of ebola’s symptoms are terrifying. Among other things, ebola can induce blood vomiting, severe rash, and liver inflammation. After the disease was reigned in and Western African States declared their health crises under control, health departments around the world began to reflect on their response to the ebola epidemic.
Although the ebola epidemic was regionally contained, it was not due to the competence and quick response of state governments. The implications of the lackluster response to the epidemic are far more disturbing than ebola itself. In a globalized world, we are entirely unprepared to quickly address the outbreak of a horrific disease. At this point, a pandemic isn’t a possibility, it is an inevitability.
Say what you will about the politics of Bill Gates but he is right about one thing: we are entirely unprepared to contain and address a potential pandemic. We lack the resources, funding, and state cooperation to adequately address an epidemic that has the potential to become a pandemic. In his Vox interview, Gates mentions an anecdote worth discussing: the 1918 Spanish Flu was almost equal in human devastation to World War II. It seems safe to assume that a pandemic today would only be accelerated by globalization. An infected individual could board a plane in Dubai and be in New York 15 hours later. We live in a time where we are uniquely vulnerable to pandemic.
Until governments properly fund health programs, it is entirely up to the individual to manage risk. In the case of a lethal, infectious outbreak, the best strategy is to go into isolation. Of course, any period of extended isolation will require a considerable amount of prepping. Most obviously, you will need food and water. Don’t count on clean tap water. In the event of a cataclysmic pandemic, it is likely infrastructure will deteriorate. This will lead to worsened water quality and the potential of infection by waterborne disease. Invest in quality water filtration systems.
Do your emergency plans include contingencies for plague? If they don’t, they should. The probability of such an event, over 50%, certainly warrants preparation. Do not be caught unprepared. What are your plans for pandemic? Will you attempt to bug out or follow a strategy of isolation at home?
6 comments
scary stuff and ALL very true
me i would hole up or bug in right here
I would suggest that you use both a good water filter and boiling together, if something fails with the filter (maybe poor manufacturing practices, third world country companies, maybe) then you may be SOL. And don’t forget dust/particle masks, a good supply of them! Though chances are that if a biological agent is being used as a weapon, it will be wide spread before you are warned about it! GLAHP!
Bill is obviously a very smart guy. Playing devil’s advocate here, maybe we need a good cleanse. Actually we do, but that’s not a popular message. The powers that be know this, when and where will they pull the trigger? Next on your prep list should also be a filtered positive air pressure system for the house and a way to quarantine family members and friends. Happy New Year!?
I had family members who died in the last world-wide pandemic (Spanish flu, 1917-1918). In fact, more people died in that pandemic than died fom combat-related injuries in WWI. Scientists and doctors are STILL trying to figure out what made that strain of flu so deadly at that time, especially since apparently that same strain is still with us but is not killing anywhere near so many people. As the article mentioned, with the ease and rapidity of travel in the modern world (travel between the farthest points taking a matter of hours rather than days or weeks), it’s not a matter of IF, but of WHEN another pandemic occurs. How deadly the next one is going to be determined by how quickly the threat is recognized and contained as much as how quickly effective treatments can be developed.
The C.D.C./W.H.O which works for the U.N. which works for the World Order who would love a pandemic so they could do what the last U.S. election could not. The F.U.S.A. will come as complete surprise, a black swan if you will. All the preparing will not enable anyone to survive the onslaught. Only the strong…as the saying goes. Be ready for anything.