[MH] CDC National Center for Supernatural Diseases

[rkbrown419]

Originally Posted by RyanW

Just a thought about a very different take on the Monster Hunters formula. The Secret is out, and many of the "monsters" are considered victims of diseases that call for quarantine and treatment.

I think this is close to the default in Technomancer, except that vampires and victims of ambulatory necrotic plague (zombies) are regarded as magically animated corpses instead of sick people. Therefore they must be safely disposed of to avoid spreading the disease instead of quarantined.
On the other hand some businesses and government agencies use spell created and controlled undead as cheap labor. I believe sentences of death plus hard labor are mentioned in the book as are human trafficking gangs that find it easier to control dead victims than live ones. Although care must be taken with spell zombies to prevent the spread of disease associated with rotting flesh.

[Phantasm]

Originally Posted by tshiggins

...although I have seen them portrayed as unrealistically incompetent.

Yeah, I've seen that as well, though that's usually due to the writers needing someone holding the Idiot Ball so their "heroes" can be shown as being the only competent people in the entire world.

Personally, I'd be more likely to use the CDC in a "quarantine, research, and alleviate symptoms" mode with the National Guard or a similarly armed PMC providing security, who may or may not have itchy trigger fingers . . . .

[tshiggins]

Originally Posted by Phantasm

Yeah, I've seen that as well, though that's usually due to the writers needing someone holding the Idiot Ball so their "heroes" can be shown as being the only competent people in the entire world.

Personally, I'd be more likely to use the CDC in a "quarantine, research, and alleviate symptoms" mode with the National Guard or a similarly armed PMC providing security, who may or may not have itchy trigger fingers . . . .

That's only if you want some drama. In Containment, the targeted city was Atlanta, the city where the CDC is headquartered. In that city, Emory University has a hospital with (not surprisingly) strong ties to the CDC.

Emory University Hospital was designated as a quarantine and treatment center for U.S. victims of Ebola, for that reason. It has the facilities and the skilled personnel, backed by the world's best researchers in communicable diseases.

So, in the real world (and not some crap TV show) the Atlanta PD supports the CDC personnel who enter the local medical center where the actual victims were identified, by maintaining a cordon around that place. Based on the results of the investigation, they move to cordon off other locations that may harbor the contagion, such as the victims' workplaces and homes.

The Atlanta PD then begins to expand the cordons as the CDC personnel direct, evacuating people to quarantine centers. Meanwhile, other units with the Atlanta PD block access the neighborhood.

Evacuees are taken to EUH and other treatment and quarantine centers, where nurses draw blood and show them to reasonably comfortable rooms. Doctors then come in and explain the situation.

By the end of the day, the neighborhood around the medical center and the victims' homes are cleared and cordoned off, and most of the people nearby have also been cleared out. The CDC then issues quarantine and symptom information to local doctors and hospitals, and the mayor and police chief and CDC director hold a press conference.

The drama-queens and conspiracy-theory morons in the population freak out, but most people hunker down to ride it out. The evacuees get access to telephones, so they can call families, friends, bosses, doctors and lawyers.

The bottom-feeding ambulance-chasing lawyers are already en route, anyway. The press has shifted to full-time coverage, and the police and fire chiefs cancel all leaves and days off (but guarantee overtime).

Within 12 hours, the neighborhood is mostly clear, the cops and CDC are searching for the paranoid/idiot stragglers (who may face charges based on exactly how stupidly they behave), and the fire trucks and patrol vehicles block all roads and alleys, while officers patrol the area on foot.

A week later, the infected are dead and everybody else is released and start to sue. Meanwhile, a particularly humorless set of FBI agents has an investigation well under way.