What happens if a zombie pandemic appears in real life?

According to Futurism, the Covid-19 pandemic made many people think of scenes in zombie-themed movies - with empty streets empty of people, hospitals full of patients, while most people hide. in the home. Seeing this scene, many netizens tried to set up a fictional scenario: If the Zombie pandemic really appeared in real life like the current Covid-19 epidemic, what would happen?

To answer this question, Clare Sammells , an anthropologist at Bucknell University, pointed out the difference between Covid-19 and the zombie pandemic if it took place in real life. 

Dr. Clare Sammells currently teaches a zombie . course at Bucknell University (USA).

Zombie outbreaks are easier to control than Covid-19

As a product of human imagination, zombies are really a paradox that goes against the laws of physics . Although dead, zombies are still capable of moving around as if they were alive. In the movies, the zombie epidemic has been described as having an extremely fast rate of infection. The basic transmission coefficient (R0) - or the average number of people who will spread the disease from a single infected person - of the zombie virus is also extremely high. 

Accordingly, an infected person can spread to many, many people around him. People who have just been infected do not have the incubation period but immediately show symptoms, then continue to infect others. This invisible feature makes the epidemic spread at an uncontrollable speed if not prevented in time. In particular, the death rate due to zombie virus also reaches 100%. In short, if infected, you will soon become a walking zombie.

The virus causing the zombie pandemic has a very fast spread rate, with a death rate of 100%.

However, such a pandemic "if happening in real life is less likely to cause a global pandemic like Covid-19" , according to expert Clare Sammells. In other words, if a Zombie outbreak happens, it will be "very easy to prevent and control".

" With the zombie epidemic, you'll immediately know who is infected ," said the doctor, who teaches a zombie course at Bucknell University. In addition to being able to identify people who are infected, measures to "kill" people who have turned into zombies to prevent the spread of infection are also easier to implement and cause fewer social ethical problems, "when they have died. completely out of humanity and consciousness. "

Meanwhile, with the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, knowing who has or has been infected is always a real challenge. According to statistics, there have been many cases of unknowingly infecting other people without any symptoms during the incubation period.

Covid-19 is much harder to deal with than the zombie outbreak

There will be no vaccine against the zombie virus

Since the introduction of the vaccine, many communicable diseases have been stopped. Whenever a pandemic takes place, the vaccine is always considered a salvation for mankind. This is especially true of the Covid-19 epidemic, when many scientists believed that only when the vaccine was successfully developed, could our lives return to normal. However, if the zombie outbreak happens in real life, the vaccine will not act as "divine" as the vaccine appears in the movie , according to expert Clare Sammells.

"The vaccine is likely to have been greatly attenuated, introduced into the human body so that the immune system can make antibodies against the virus itself, " says anthropologist Clare Sammells. However, in the event of a zombie outbreak in real life, the vaccine when injected into the body can make us sick and turn into a zombie. Given the characteristics of a zombie virus, it is simply because we cannot create a "virulence" version of this virus. 

Vaccines will not be the end of the human race when the zombie outbreak takes place in real life

Naturally, the concept of "community immunity" (when a large proportion of the population has become immune to an infectious bacterium) will not occur if the zombie outbreak occurs in real life. 

According to a 2017 study by scientists from the University of Leicester (UK), humanity can be wiped out by zombies in just 3 months, with only 300 people able to survive. With a mortality rate of up to 100%, few people can survive to make antibodies against the zombie virus, thereby forming community immunity.

Society will not collapse if there is a zombie outbreak

According to expert Clare Sammells, zombie-themed films always have an unrealistic detail: the complete collapse of human society when a pandemic occurs.

"In most zombie dramas and movies, there is always a scenario where the police, prison, army and government systems will quickly collapse and disappear. transformed into the worst version of themselves, ready to shoot and kill fellow humans to survive. "

Scenes in the The Walking Dead series and the scene of real life silence by Covid-19

However, what we witnessed in the Covid-19 epidemic is quite the opposite, if not more aggressive. Governments immediately implemented drastic anti-epidemic measures. In addition, each citizen himself was more closely connected with each other during the time of the epidemic.

"What we are really seeing during the Covid-19 pandemic is not the collapse of society. Instead, human-to-human connections have been strengthened , " she said.

"They are getting closer to their neighbors. They are willing to help their friends. They are showing concern and concern for each other."

"So if you want to watch movies about zombies while you're stuck at home, I will be very supportive - just remember, what goes on in life is completely different from the movie," she concluded.

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