With confirmed cases of COVID-19 increasing
at an exponential rate, the entire planet
is in the throes of its most serious pandemic
disease in a century.
COVID-19 has already changed our way of life
in the U.S., and the situation is likely to
get worse before it gets better.
Hollywood has been predicting this kind of
event for a long time, and viewers are turning
to films such as Outbreak and Contagion on
streaming services to perhaps make some sense
of the new normal.
"On Day 1 there were two people, and then
four, and then sixteen."
Max Brooks is one writer who's been thinking
about pandemic disease in the context of his
creative work for years.
In a recent Reddit AMA, the World War Z author
offered his take on how the current, real-life
coronavirus crisis compares to the zombie
outbreak portrayed in his famous work.
World War Z the novel was turned into the
2013 Brad Pitt movie of the same name, and
the source material is credited with providing
an accurate and well-researched account of
how an uncontrolled pandemic might spread.
"That's Dr. Fassbach.
Virologist from Harvard."
"The analogy I keep coming back to is Spanish
Flu."
Brooks was cautious not to equate COVID-19
with the zombie pathogen that brought the
world to its knees in his seminal work.
With that in mind, he still considers the
current crisis a "wakeup call" for a world
ill-equipped to manage a serious pandemic.
He wrote,
"I think the coronavirus is as dangerous as
we allow it to be.
This is not the end of the world, but we need
to take it seriously, implement measures to
curb the spread, marshal the resources of
government and industry behind a vaccine and
treatment.
As regular citizens, we need to think about
what we can do: social distancing washing
hands, avoiding crowds, and for God's sake,
stay home if you're sick!
We can't just think about, 'Can I get it?',
we need to think about, 'Who can I infect?'
We have the power to turn this around, but
we need to make the right choices."
That all sounds a lot like the recommendations
coming out of the World Health Organization
and its domestic counterpart, the Center for
Disease Control.
What Brooks realized in the course of researching
World War Z is that human beings tend to be
slow to rally an institutional response to
a threat like COVID-19.
As depicted in his book, rich countries tend
to take their public health for granted.
This can lead to situations like what's unfolding
in Italy.
All the measures outlined by Brooks are intended
to mitigate the spread of the disease at home,
as a means of "flattening the curve," and
reducing the impact on our soon-to-be overburdened
health care system.
Published back in 2006, Brook's novel is subtitled
"An Oral History of the Zombie War."
The story unfolds through a series of interviews
and first-hand accounts of the people on the
front lines of the outbreak.
This backward-looking framing device lends
a retrospective tone that's unusual for a
thriller, as if Brooks is presenting a planet's
collective recollection of an existential
disaster.
One of the most salient features of World
War Z is the implied warning to world governments
not to downplay the threat of a pandemic.
On Reddit, Brooks expressed his hope that
the U.S. government doesn't take the same
head-in-the-sand approach that he depicts
in his book.
The personal stakes are high for Brooks.
His father, film and comedy legend Mel Brooks,
is 93 and in the highest risk demographic
for serious complications should he contract
COVID-19.
"I'll probably be
okay.
But if I give it to him, he could give it
to Carl Reiner, who could give it to Dick
Van Dyke, and before I know it, I've wiped
out a whole generation of comedic legends."
Brooks wrote on Reddit,
"I have to be very careful about infecting
[my father].
That's why I've cancelled some appearances
and might possibly have to pivot my whole
book tour to a virtual tour.
Right now I'm preparing for my son's school
to be closed.
I think about my dad and my mother-in-law
(who's had lung cancer twice) and all the
vulnerable people in my life I could infect
if I'm not careful."
Even if we're not members of the highest risk
demographic, let's all take a cue from Brooks
and practice good hygiene to protect our vulnerable
friends, family, and neighbors from the coronavirus.
