It’s not even completely clear whether Nostradamus, otherwise known as Michel de Nostredame, actually wrote that passage. Attempts to contact Nostradamus were unsuccessful, since he’s not on Twitter and he did live in the 1500’s.
If you thought the U.S. was caught unprepared for a Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic, imagine what would happen should a zombie apocalypse occur. Would political leaders try to minimize the problem, claiming that becoming a rotting corpse is not so bad or that the apocalypse was “rounding the corner?”
Would people be arguing about how many people actually have become zombies, debating whether various people actually are zombies or simply look a little pale? Typically, a good way to tell if a person has become a zombie is to see if he or she tries to eat you. Would some push for a “herd immunity” strategy in which the country just allows the apocalypse to happen? After all, letting everyone become a zombie can solve so many problems such as wondering what to wear each day and potential toilet paper shortages.
Well, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) does offer a Zombie Preparedness guide. For example, they recommend having an emergency kit in your house. And that doesn’t mean just a stash of avocado toast and tequila. Instead, the CDC recommends having the following items in your apartment or home:
Water: Store at least one gallon per person per day. Of course, that could mean over a 1000 gallons should a real zombie apocalypse occur.
Food: These should be non-perishable items otherwise you may be quite disappointed when you need them. Make sure that the food covers enough food groups and is as healthy as possible. After a while, eating nothing but marshmallow Peeps could cause problems.
Medications: These should be prescription and non-prescription medication that you may need. Note a stash of nothing but Viagra may not be so helpful during a zombie apocalypse.
Tools and Supplies: The CDC suggests having things like a utility knife, duct tape, and a battery powered radio. A smartphone may not be as useable should the cellular network and Internet go down. Keep in mind that most battery powered radios can’t take selfies.
Sanitation and Hygiene: Examples include soap, towels, and household bleach, which, by the way, you should not inject into your body.
Clothing and Bedding: These should include clothes that offer reasonable protection. A collection of thongs alone would not serve this purpose.
Important documents: The CDC mentions your driver’s license, passport, and birth certificate. A Starbuck’s loyalty card and a Avengers membership card would probably not be useful during a Zombie apocalypse.
First Aid supplies: The CDC does warn that a Band-aid won’t do a whole lot for a zombie bite.
The CDC did not respond to Yahoo Life’s request for comment.
Disaster preparedness experts and doctors seem to think the campaign is pretty smart.
“I think it’s great,” John Sellick, a professor in the Jacobs School of Medicine & Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo, tells Yahoo Life. “As we’ve seen with coronavirus, disaster preparedness is crucial.”
FEMA-certified natural disaster preparedness instructor Cheryl Nelson, founder of Prepare with Cher, agrees. “I think this is brilliant,” she tells Yahoo Life. “It is definitely an attention-getter and it makes preparing fun. The more creative ways we can get the preparedness message out, the better.”
The CDC is simply “trying to make disaster preparedness relatable to different populations,” Mitchel A. Rosen, an associate professor in the Department of Urban and Global Public Health at the Rutgers School of Public Health, tells Yahoo Life. And, he says, framing the topic around a zombie apocalypse “makes it fun to learn about disaster preparedness.”
Lee Clarke, a sociology professor at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, tells Yahoo Life that, while zombie preparedness can seem “trite, trivial and amusing on the surface” he points out that “all the messages are there.” “They just substitute ‘zombie’ for ‘flood’ or ‘hurricane,'” he says. “Zombies are just more interesting, and it draws people in.”
While the packaging is quirky, Sellick points out that the underlying message — to be prepared for the unexpected — is important, and incredibly relevant right now. “Bottled water, flour, disinfectant spray, toilet
