What Would You Do If You Were In Charge?

Just like to point out that the odds of this actually happenings, nil to uh. . . nil.

In my humble opinion. . .

I'm not going to make many friends for this, especially around here, but for some reason I feel like answering. So here goes:

Hypothetically, I'm going to assume I am the quote/unquote "Emperor of the World." It'll make this post shorter I imagine. I'm also going to assume that it would only take the Flu roughly two weeks or so to run its course. I'm not an expert on Flu variants, so two weeks might be a bit off, but it's all hypothetical anyway.

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First thing that would have to be done is a universal mandatory quarantine. There's just no way around it. Without a method of instantly determining who has the disease and who doesn't, you have to keep everyone separated until it has run its course.

Sadly, this quarantine would have to be enforced heavily. Police-State actions would be needed for a short time. Anyone out and about would have to be escorted back to their homes. Food could be delivered in the form of MREs or whatever by military personelle protected from the airborne virus.

Anyone that refused to stay indoors would have to be forcibly quarantined.

Cold? Maybe, but a great deal of (hypothetical) lives are at stake so people would just have to suck it up until the event was over.

A vaccine that could effectively prevent flu cases would change things. If an individual took the vaccine, they would be free to go about their business. If the vaccine was refused, the quarantine would remain in effect for that individual until the flu had run its course.

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It sucks, but that's reality. Personally, I would rather have everyone be pissed off at me than have global fatalities at 10-20%.

Again let me state that I know nothing about the dynamics of the Flu virus. My point is that to protect people's right to life, one would have to severely restrict their freedoms for a short time in this case.

Millions and possibly billions of deaths are absolutely unacceptable in my opinion. If a police state is required for a short time to keep that from happening, so be it.

The OP asked what I would do, and I would do as I have stated and then let the power of the Police-State go. I realize that a government might have trouble with that, but that isn't what the OP asked.



I know that there's lots of people who don't like this kind of answer, but unfortunately I'm an incurable realist. If anyone has a better solution to the situation proposed by the OP, then I'm all ears.

Bottom line is fewest causalities. Period.

reply to post by SeekerOfAUTMN


Where will you get man power to enforce your mandatory quarantine?

If SRHTF, most LEO's will probably stay home with their family.(Katrina)


BTW, nothing wrong with the answer you gave.

reply to post by jam321


In all honesty, I highly doubt that the kind of manpower needed even exists.

If it did, it would have to be in the form of the military, national guard, police, virtually everyone you could find.

The really sad part is, that to enforce a quarantine without enough manpower, fear would have to be a huge factor in keeping people inside. Meaning that people caught outside would be imprisoned or even executed on sight.

Bear in mind that by being out and about, one would be playing with the lives of everyone they encountered.

Sad situation really. I seriously hope this never happens.

reply to post by Blaine91555 Well ok, I agree that some posts in the flu threads are getting out of hand. Still, there does seem to be good reason to suspect that the US Federal Govt. is planning to respond in a highly centralised authoritarian manner. We do have plenty of historical examples to look to & realise this is hardly ever a good thing. I tend to think that as horrible as a lot of death is, its not as bad as death combined with arbitrary detention, especially since the worst conditions will undoubtedly be imposed on those sections of society who already experience prejudice.
Consider the homeless. The truth is that many do not come into contact with any more people, & possibly less, than those with homes. In reality, "the flu season" exists primarily because when its cold, people huddle together in warm houses with limited ventilation... But hey, round 'em up! You know? Who next? Bound to be immigrants, right?

reply to post by ninammam

You know what it is a flu for Gods sake no one is holding a loaded gun and trying to kill anyone!!

You are no doubt aware that ordinary flu kills 10s of thousands of people annually, right? Personally, I'm not too afraid so far, but it does seem that this flu is more deadly than usual. I do therefore think it prudent to limit international travel, until we see just how bad it gets this winter. That's where courts of law come in: to decide if a person's request to travel is essential. Otherwise it'd have to be decided by... whom? Corrupt officials?
I did not suggest that people be detained by court order merely for being ill. Actually, I'm arguing against detention. Did you read my 1st post in this thread?

Double post. Sorry.

[edit on 30/8/09 by Bunken Drum]

Originally posted by Blaine91555

What if a contagious person who refused to voluntarily stay at home or in a health facility infected one of your loved ones and they died. Would you still come up with such an irrational answer.

How would a contagious person infect one of my loved ones, if my loved one was vaccinated?

Like, what danger is a non-vaccinated person to some one who is vaccinated? Wouldn't it be the other way around?

So, let's say that you (and your loved ones) lined up for the infamous beta-vaccine. Wouldn't it be YOU that would be a danger to ME and my family?

You should really read posts. One of the hypothetical conditions was that no good vaccine is available. This has zero to do with forced vaccinations.

Oh...Okay, so if no vaccine were available, then of course I would initiate a mandatory quarantine duration. Forced quarantine would be pretty hard to implement, considering we are a democratic nation (at leas this month). Wait, are we talking about the USA?

Anyway, back to the WWJD topic...Given the scenarios that you have outlined, then I would make public announcements with expectations, what to watch out for, a hot-line number to call with questions or to report is I suspect someone is sick. And imply that we have a mandatory quarantine period of (so and so days); which will be voluntary SIP, unless the person isn't being cooperative or refuses.

I would also explain that while these measures are drastic, they are TEMPORARY, pending an FDIC tested and approved, quality vaccine. I would then proceed to explain the expected length of time it will take to come up with such vaccine. But, then agaion; I would expect my nation to be intelligent enough to make their own decisions, based on all available information at that time. I'd also make sure that if such an emergency were currently threatening my nation, I would be damn sure that at least 2 updates per day were released to the public every single day, until the threat was downgraded; just out of respect (for my nation and its people).


[edit on 30-8-2009 by SourGrapes]

reply to post by SeekerOfAUTMN

First thing that would have to be done is a universal mandatory quarantine. There's just no way around it. Without a method of instantly determining who has the disease and who doesn't, you have to keep everyone separated until it has run its course. Sadly, this quarantine would have to be enforced heavily. Police-State actions would be needed for a short time. Anyone out and about would have to be escorted back to their homes. Food could be delivered in the form of MREs or whatever by military personelle protected from the airborne virus. Anyone that refused to stay indoors would have to be forcibly quarantined.

Harsh.

Personally, I'd have just dumped a few hundred thousand to a few million in research and production of a Universal Flu Vaccine. It's in clinical trials now, and so far is showing great promise. Rather than mixing cocktails of vaccines and hoping they're effective against some emerging strains this year in addition to the current ones and dealing with possible side effects, contamination, preservation, and manufacturing - we can have one single no-nonsense universal vaccine against all influenza viruses for, well hopefully indefinitely if we're lucky.

New Scientist: Universal Flu vaccine could put an end to all flu.

Like a bullfighter's cape, in other words, the heads of haemagglutinin deflect the immune attack away from more vulnerable parts of the virus. "There are conserved proteins that are almost identical in all flu, because they are delicate bits of machinery that do complex tasks and can't really change much," says Marasco. "If we can shift the immune system to attack the conserved proteins instead, flu cannot mutate to escape without crippling its own machinery."

To refocus the immune attack, the idea is to create vaccines containing only the conserved proteins, rather than whole viruses. Most attention has focused on the M2 protein, an ion channel that protrudes from the virus's surface and tells it when it is inside a cell. M2 also appears in abundance in the membrane of cells producing new flu viruses, so targeting it with antibodies will lead to the destruction of infected cells as well as the virus itself.

To be brutally honest if the flu mutates into a deadlier form then there is nothing to do. It will kill a huge portion of the worlds population and we will eventually build a resistance to it or a vaccine will be created eventually after a couple that will probably be worse than catching the flu. I think that due to the over population of the plannet and the predicted food and energy shortages this thing has been created and unleashed and TPTB know exactly what it will become and are ready to protect their own. This all reminds me of the Stand by stepgn king, it could be a species killer if it gets out of hand.

If I where incharge I would recommend quarantine sites and everyone taking as much vitamins and fluids as they can. i would look to distribute them for free to the populus using drop off centres in every town if it got out of hand and I would recall all armed forces back to the country to help with the management of the population and distribution of supplies.

I would also take the secret vaccine I created before I agreed to unleash this on the population and see that all my family and friends where taken care of and then retreat to my bunker with my nearest and dearest when the SHTF and wait for the virus to take the unwanted people and come out to rebuild the country

reply to post by SeekerOfAUTMN


There is nothing wrong with discussing these things. It may not be this strain of Flu this time, but someday we will face this.

What you say makes sense and I suppose using common sense does piss some people off but them hiding their heads in the sand won't save anyone's lives.

From some of what I've read some people seem to actually think all diseases are laboratory creations. Its like a return to the dark ages of alchemy and witchcraft when people thought they could be given a disease by somebody speaking a curse.

The motto of "Deny Ignorance" seems to be totally ignored here a lot lately.

On this topic I see the largest issue in a Pandemic is that one of the biggest killers will literally be peoples own stupidity. Stupidity will become a weapon of mass destruction.

Some will convince themselves that it is their god given right to spread death to others and will have no remorse for those who's deaths may have been their fault. Since they do not use a gun and pull a trigger they can't see it is the same thing as doing just that.

Somebody would have to deal with these people or just sit back and watch more people die.

I'm convinced the exact same people who ignore a quarantine would be the loudest voices criticizing after it was over. There is always a group of people who cannot see that they are the problem.

Look at Katrina where people who could have gotten out in time and instead stayed were the loudest voices and critics afterward.

As with New Orleans everyone sits around talking endlessly about fixing things but nothing will be done until the disaster happens.

The most dangerous conspirators in a case like this are those with their heads buried firmly in the sand.

Originally posted by On the level

I would also take the secret vaccine I created before I agreed to unleash this on the population

Did you bring some for everybody?

I wonder how the government created the 1918 Pandemic? Pretty hard to do I'd think? Voodoo perhaps

Just kidding here folks.

Originally posted by SourGrapes

How would a contagious person infect one of my loved ones, if my loved one was vaccinated?

In my hypothetical there is no effective vaccine?

Originally posted by mikerussellus
Just like to point out that the odds of this actually happenings, nil to uh. . . nil.

In my humble opinion. . .

Don't have the courage to play?

I hope you are right. Since it has happened before, odds are it will happen again. Lets hope not this time. Wouldn't it be nice if we were prepared in advance and less people died?

reply to post by Blaine91555
First Off...I wouldnt panic. I would immediately rescind any FDA ruling against any and all Natural cures and devices such as Rife and others.Colloidal Silver and MMS reportedly are quite effective against virus and disease such as these. This would be a good time to see if the proof is in the pudding by gathering empiracal data.I would revamp the healthcare industry simply by allowing Drs to treat the poor and elderly and allow them a 100% writedown off their earnings rather than having hundreds of thousands of paper -pushers filing forms . This would also reduce the cost overall.For example if a Drs earnings are 2mil per yr he would be allowed to subtract the cost of treating the poor and elderly or anyone that couldnt afford payment.Many Drs are honest caring compassionates folks....its the system thats got them trapped.The system that was created to serve us has now become the master.The world spends trillions on new ways to maime and kill others....eliminate war and the war machines. This planet could be heaven if our focus were to change. This Could be an opportunity for us all to bring into fruition a better world

reply to post by Blaine91555


I'd put all the people I don't like on a plane and have the air force shoot it down over the ocean....LOL Just kidding...but I have thought about this today and I would make cigarettes go back to two dollars a pack(means I'd strip all TH BS taxes on them) and instead tax everbody who owns over 3 acres of land 10,000 an acre every year in land taxes and put ridiculous taxes on jet planes(private owned ones), boats(again private owned ones) And I'd tax gucci and prada and jimmy chus out the whazoo...yeah that seems fair, let's see how the really rich jerks like being taxed way beyond and above like they like to do to us...

I just realized there is a point I should have made in my own OP.

I am not for forced vaccination and that's why I included none being available as part of the original scenario. I have no problem with people refusing a vaccine as long as they are willing to quarantine themselves if they become infected. Perhaps that will make some hate me a little less

Originally posted by ninammam
reply to post by Blaine91555

 

WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

OK, I'll answer this now.

The first thing I would deal with is this stupid idea of people going into their Doctors office, Clinics or Hospitals when they have the Flu spreading it to patients who are there for other reasons. I'd set up mobile teams to treat people in their own homes. That would free up space in Hospitals for the worst cases also. I'd set up a phone line were people could be interviewed to see if their symptoms were Flu related before they come in.

I'd set up shelter for the Homeless where they could get bed rest and care and get them off the streets. I'd call on the Churches and Private Charity to take this responsibility since the government would just mess it up and make things worse. They would also take in the infirm who live alone if they become infected. I would in a time of need like this take government money and hire these organizations to do what they do the best.

I'd limit air, train and bus travel into and out of areas that are hard hit to slow the spread.

Anyone found to be knowingly refusing to stay away from public places while contagious, I would treat like any other criminal. At the very least it would amount to attempted manslaughter.

I'd fill the airwaves with information to help people know what to do and what services are available. Even if it meant placing mandatory information announcements on all cable, broadcast or radio stations and in the newspapers.

I'd stop allowing travel too or from any nation that does not take steps to control the spread. They would be completely off limits for the duration. I'd airdrop supplies to their citizens for humane purposes but their borders would have to be closed to world travel.

In areas where the outbreak is severe I'd mandate the closure of businesses and to protect those not infected I'd take over manufacturers if necessary to make sure their were plenty of masks available that were proven to be effective.

Originally posted by Blaine91555

What Would You Do If You Were In Charge?

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