As the fear of the coronavirus sweeps through the United States, the CDC has a strange recommendation — watch The Walking Dead.
This isn’t a joke either, as it is on the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) website.
CDC says watch Walking Dead for preparation tips
While The Walking Dead is a fictional television show, and while there is no danger for a zombie outbreak in America right now, the CDC said there is a lot to learn by watching the popular AMC series.
And, according to the CDC, it all started out as a joke.
“What first began as a tongue-in-cheek campaign to engage new audiences with preparedness messages has proven to be a very effective platform.”
CDC said that they want to prepare people for surviving an epidemic like what people fear with coronavirus, by having them practice “zombie preparedness.”
They even offer a lot of zombie preparedness products. There is a blog, which offers advice on how to prepare for a real emergency by understanding what zombie fiction taught us.
See, it is fictional, but the best zombie storytellers out there — names like George Romero (Night of the Living Dead) and Frank Darabont (The Walking Dead) studied facts when creating their fictional epidemics.
“In movies, shows, and literature, zombies are often depicted as being created by an infectious virus, which is passed on via bites and contact with bodily fluids.”
Sound familiar? It is almost the same as prions, mad-cow disease, measles, rabies, and, yes, the coronavirus.
There are also cases like Lyme disease, which Real Housewives castmember Ramona Singer contracted. That was due to a tick bite. Yep, zombie-type infections are real.
Here is what the CDC recommends to make sure you are safe from the zombie apocalypse:
- Water (1 gallon per person per day)
- Food (non-perishable items)
- Medications (prescription and non-prescription meds)
- Tools and Supplies (utility knife, duct tape, battery-powered radio, etc.)
- Sanitation and Hygiene
- Clothing and Bedding
- Important documents (copies of your driver’s license, passport, and birth certificate)
- First Aid supplies
The CDC also has information for educators, so teachers can prepare school-aged children for any sort of pandemic.
There is even a cool poster:
And an awesome graphic novel that you can read or download to read later.
Follow the CDC on social media as well for more information on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.
Coronavirus and The Walking Dead
It almost feels like people are expecting The Walking Dead these days with the coronavirus fears.
People are petitioning to have the South by Southwest Festival in Austin canceled to avoid anyone dying there. There are also fears that Coachella could cancel their festival as well.
As for the facts, there have been a total of just over 250 reported cases of coronavirus, and almost all of them are in Washington and California.
There have been 15 people who died, and 14 of those people were in Washington. Almost all 14 of those deaths came to elderly people living in a Seattle nursing home.
There have been 70 people treated in California for coronavirus, and one of those people died.