Form: Outline

HISTORY OF PANDEMIC LITERATURE, MOVIES, AND REALITY
Daniel Defoe’s “A Journal of the Plague Year” (1722) Mary Shelley’s “The Last Man” (1826) -> Jack London’s “The Scarlet Plague” (1912) -> George R. Stewart’s “Earth Abides” (1949) -> Alistair McLean’s “The Satan Bug” Novel (1963) -> The Satan Bug, Movie (1965) -> Michael Crichton’s “The Andromeda Strain”‘(1967) -> The Andromeda Strain, Movie (1971) -> The Omega Man Movie (from Matheson’s story) (zombie integration starts) (1971) -> The Crazies Movie (1973) -> The Cassandra Crossing (a bad movie) (1976) -> Stephen King’s “The Stand” Novel adds supernatural component (1975-8) -> “Virus” Movie (1980) -> Richard Preston “The Hot Zone” Novel (1994) -> Outbreak Movie (1995) > 12 Monkeys (1995) -> 28 Days Later (2002) -> World War Z Novel(2006) -> The Happening Movie (2008) -> Quarrantine Movie (2008) -> Carriers Movie (2009) -> The Crazies Movie (2010) -> Contagion Movie (2011) -> World War Z Movie (2013) -> Pandemic (2016) -> It Comes at Night Movie (2017)

US INFLUENZA PANDEMICS
(I’ve only included influenza since 1900 despite that yellow fever, cholera, diphtheria, typhoid, polio, smallpox, tuberculosis, aids, and measles have all caused US epidemics since the founding.)
1. In 1918, the “Spanish Flu” pandemic infected 500 million people around the world, 27% of the world’s population. (It began in china, china’s rivers are dirty cesspools that assist influenza in crossing species boundaries.)
2. 1956, the “Asian Flu,” a pandemic of influenzavirus A that originated in China, spread through East Asia and into the United States, killing between one and two million people.
3. In 1976/77 there was a leak from a US gov lab. I had it and it was freaking horrible. This is the worst flu experience of my life. I literally couldn’t walk.
4. In 2005/6 there was an avian influenza in UK and Europe that killed around 200 people. I was in the UK. I had it. It was freaking horrible. I lost 30 pounds in two weeks.
5. 2009, the Swine Flu, a novel strain of the influenza A/H1N1 virus killed 3,400 people in the US.
6. In 2019 there was a lab leak in Wuhan of Covid 19 (yes it’s undeniable at this point) and it killed millions – though most were comorbid, elderly, or otherwise fragile. I believe I had it. Because nothing other than long covid explains my health after the short flu in August-September – I was in terrible shape for a year and a half.

You’d think that we’d thought about this problem enough, endured it frequently enough, and had enough experience that we’d get it right. But we didn’t why? The government politicized it.

What did we learn? Cognitive and systemic collapse as the US was less prepared in every aspect despite the CDC and WHO, because these organizations have been politicized and bureaucratically captured, without being tested by annual war games, and maintaining strategic reserves.

Cheers.

NOTES:
FWIW: Contagion is one of the best movies but it’s a near scene for scene rip off of an earlier movie and that earlier movie is uncredited. Unfortunately, I”ve forgotten the title and date, but it predates by four or five years.