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With all this discussion about bioweapons in this thread, It got me to wondering what the members of SDN would do if such an attack were to happen. For purposes of defining the situation, let's assume that some radical group has released a bioweapon attack in the middle of Times Square, airborne, not waterborne, and with an incubation period of 2 weeks, after which death is rapid. This radical group, wanting to take credit for the attack, and sow fear among people, would release a movie stating that they had done such an attack a day after it was done, in order to give the bioweapon some time to spread. How do you think the population would respond, and how would you respond to this situation?

In my case, since I'm probably a day to a day and a half away from New york, assuming that nobody flies directly to my location from there and then attempts to infect me directly, I would probably do my best to find a good supply of filters, masks, and biohazard suits, then hole myself up in an apartment with food supplies and duct tape to seal any conceivable point of entry into the apartment.

What about you guys?

I'd leave the city, immediately, for the hills, and wait a few weeks if possible (after stocking up on supplies). That's assuming I actually get to do so, since the US government might put everything in lockdown.

Razaekel wrote:and duct tape to seal any conceivable point of entry into the apartment.

That's bound to stop the germs from coming in, albeit as well as the oxygen. Good luck.

Guardsman Bass wrote:I'd leave the city, immediately, for the hills, and wait a few weeks if possible (after stocking up on supplies). That's assuming I actually get to do so, since the US government might put everything in lockdown.

Good call. Regarding lockdowns, you'd better have a go-bag ready. Now.

Gas masks are easy. Gardening shops carry them (for pesticides and stuff). Good luck coming across some hazmat suits.

I get infected in the initial attack and die in 2 weeks' time.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

fgalkin wrote:I get infected in the initial attack and die in 2 weeks' time.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

Where do you live? According to the OP, the terrorist group announces that they launched the attack the day after it happens. If you are living in a major city, well - sucks to be you. I might get off lucky, though, if nobody infected with it takes a flight to my home city (Salt Lake City, UT) during that period.

I'm still going to be screwed if it can stay airborne for a long time, and drifts westward (or comes westward by land), but assuming that the US government grounds all flights and imposes travel restrictions by land, and the above does not apply, maybe I'll live for a while.

fgalkin wrote:I get infected in the initial attack and die in 2 weeks' time.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

The scenario you paint for poor Razaekel depends entirely on how big/economically active/connected his location is. If he happened to live in a cabin, he could seclude himself quite effectively given he acted really quick. If he lives anywhere near a highly-active centre, he's pretty much doomed, due to the delayed "warning".

I pass through Times Square on my way to and from work every day. As in, physically walking down 42nd street from Grand Central to the bus terminal.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

I'm screwed, seeing as I live very near downtown LA. I fully expect to be quarantined very, very quickly.

Hawkwings wrote:I'm screwed, seeing as I live very near downtown LA. I fully expect to be quarantined very, very quickly.

The attack occured all the way in New York, why would we be screwed here in LA?

EDIT: Got Hawkwings' name wrong.

Darth Ruinus wrote:

Hawkwings wrote:I'm screwed, seeing as I live very near downtown LA. I fully expect to be quarantined very, very quickly.

The attack occured all the way in New York, why would we be screwed here in LA?

EDIT: Got Hawkwings' name wrong.

Airplane flights. It's highly likely that during the time period when the disease was floating around in Times Square, some poor bastard picked it up, went to the airport that same day, and hopped on a flight to LA (to make matters worse, his flight might have made stops on the way).

To be honest, I'm only slightly more lucky - Salt Lake City is a reasonably big airport hub for western United States flights, so I would have to hope against hope that someone didn't walk through Times Square and then take a flight here during that window of time.

Sorry, you're screwed - there are a number of daily flights between NYC and SLC. That is, of course, the problem - there are flights to and from NYC from just about everywhere.

Also, Razeakel - you forgot to add water to your list. You'll need to stockpile that, in case the municipal supplies quit on you in the coming confusion.

I`d probably stay at home for few weeks, by that time it would be more or less clear whether the disease has made it here or not.

However I have a question what if some terrorist organization really make a claim that they have spread some very contagious disease, would that be taken seriously and all traffic immediately shut down or not. How long it might take to verify those claims? Even if it was bogus claim, but we reacted as it was true it would be huge distraction and economic loss from basically everything grinding to halt. Like someone making a phone call and claiming there is a bomb in a airport terminal, but on much larger scale.

Do nothing. Omsk and New York don't really mix. In fact, Russia and America don't really mix, although Moscow is pretty screwed (thousands could die) if they don't take rapid measures.

If it starts looking like a pandemia, well, run into the regional villages as a temporary solution. Basically same as in case of nuclear war.

Well, seeing as I am presently in Vermont, where the largest city has a population of approx. 40,000. I should be in pretty good shape. Same as if I am at home, where my hometown is less then half of that.

It occurs to me that the best place that a normal person could be if this were to occur is on a cruise ship. Preferably one of those cruise ships that do the 4-month long global tours. You're isolated from everyone else, plenty of supplies, and hey, life on a cruise ship isn't so bad.

Of course, it you were really lucky, you'd be a scientist at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, or in the navy on a nuclear submarine.

Cruise ships are breeding grounds for disease, and they have limited provisions for their large onboard populations which consume food and water at prodigious rates. You'll have to put in at port somewhere, and you can bet that the disease would spread like wildfire once it gets onboard.

No, the best place to be in a situation like this would be in a cabin somewhere, well-isolated from large population centres. Mind you, people who live in places like that are often more dependent upon civilization than they like to think, and might croak anyway. You have your true survivalists, but you also have plenty of people who think they're "rugged individualists" but who still eat primarily by driving their pickup trucks to a supermarket. It's just that the supermarket is far away, so they think they're "rugged".

True, disease would spread like none other on a cruise ship, but the idea is to not have it get on in the first place. I specified the long-duration ships because those seem like they would be best-suited in this situation. They sometimes spend a week or two out in open ocean before coming into port, and with rationing they could potentially double that time. If they were to be resupplied while at sea, I'd imagine helicopter would be the best way to do it, maybe just dropping the provisions on deck and flying away without human contact. Of course, screening the provisions for contagion would be the highest priority, but it's not like you need to keep up the lavish quality of food, which means you can pull stuff from out of the freezer that's been sitting there for a few months. This then brings up the question, how easy is it to detect this bioweapon while it is in the incubation stage?

Other great places to be: in a nomadic Saharan village, rural central Asia, and in the middle of the Amazon. By the time these people hear about what happened, everything will all be over, one way or another.

Now, why are we assuming this agent is somehow some sort of super-Ebola that kills everyone it comes across? Not really sure how that follows.

I make a quick run to the grocery store and stay home for a few weeks. I'm on Long Island, so it's not like there's much I can really do to prevent exposure, so I'd stay out of sight for a bit to ensure staying clear of any civil disorder or the like. I'm either infected or not, no matter what I do about it.

I'm probably completely safe. I live in Australia. In a podunk country city. With supplies stockpiled, including gas masks and an air compressor.

Even if it does reach me, I'm as well prepared as a civilian in peacetime can be.

I live in NSW Australia, a couple hours drive from Sydney, and I'm not sure you could travel via commercial air flight from NYC to Australia in less than a day. If the govt is quick off the mark with the quarantine, I'd probably be fine. That's assuming the airborne pathogen couldn't float here and still be viable, but I'll take a chance on that.

I live in Israel, and the airport is an hour+ drive from me, so despite the copious amount of flights from there, I should be fine. (though i'd probably lose some distant family in NY).

If something were to happen between June 2009 and February 2010, I'd be well off.

I'm almost certainly toast since I work at an airport which has dozens of flights from NYC every single day, and I'm the guy on the front lines dealing with all those passengers. Unless the attack happens in December when I take my month off work, I'm likely a goner.

I'm from the UK and I'd say most of the population over here would be infected quite quckly, we're just to small and area with to high a population. Unlike the USA, Canada, Australia, etc we dont really have significant wilderness areas to lie low in. Unless quarenteen stopped it quickly at one or two airports it would get into the general population and everybody would get it.

This discussion isn't really about science, logic, or morality, so I'm sending it to Off Topic.