by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
If you work on the assumption that the United States has a “shadow” pandemic happening right now within its domestic borders, what would be the consequence of that? Well, it seems logical that a lot of people would be sick, but not SO SICK that they went to the doctor for their symptoms because, lulz, Don Jr. needed a tax cut and we can’t have an NHS in the States because “muh wall.”
So, you would have all these overworked — many of them poor — Americans running around infecting each other. The incubation period is long enough that pretty much a huge, wide, deep swath of the American population could have been exposed more than once by more than one person. Remember, South Korea and Italy both have socialized medicine, so people who with “flu-like symptoms” would be a lot more likely to go to the doctor and be tested. Also, only four American states have WuFlu tests AND they have to go to the CDC HQ in Georgia to be examined. (I think that’s right. I’m not 100% sure. If it is — very fucked up system.)
Anyway, the one place where a lot of sick Americans would visit and leave would be tourist destinations nearby. While Mexico and Canada get a lot of visitors from the States, they’re a lot bigger. Poor old Iceland, however, is small and gets high volume traffic from all over the States (and world.) There are a few other places I could imagine might also suffer from a lot of clueless sick Americans. Any number of smaller islands in the Caribbean would likely register WuFlu cases before the dumb, lumbering American system realized that 80% of the population had been exposed.
But, for the sake of argument, let’s look at Iceland. A lot of Americans from all over the country fly in for a few days and leave. It would make sense that the first cases of WuFlu would be picked up at tourist hotspots there. Hotel staff and their families would probably be the first to get really sick. Then next would be the people treating them. So, within a few days the first WuFlu case being picked up by the Icelandic health system, the entire country could faceplant.
Again, there are a number of other small nations around the States that might face a similar fate. But Iceland probably has the best health system of any of them and would be the quickest to notice what was going on. If Iceland collectively fell to its knees with WuFlu, then we know that the States is in a shit tone of trouble.
Like, oh my God, tell everyone important in your life you love them.
I hope I’m wrong. I really do.
I don’t know anything. Ignore me.
