Superthreat: Quarantine

Video Transcript

In 2019, Respiratory Distress Syndrome, or ReDS, is here, and it’s not going anywhere. Outbreaks are just something we live with. Hardest Hit: Tropical and Subtropical Cities

GEAS Volunteers report from the front lines of the quarantine superthreat.
GEAS Volunteer BergMantra reports on the recent arrival of the ReDS ReLIEF Team in Stockholm where the number of citizens living with ReDS has topped 15,000. In addition to setting up testing centres, ReDS ReLIEF will organize local support groups to help patients and loved ones cope with the chronic symptoms of the pandemic such as violent coughing fits, wasting, and severe pain in the extremities. Stockholm is the first city outside of the tropical and subtropical hot zones to receive official REDS ReLIEF which also targets the long term social and business impacts of ReDS in regions where the workforce has been devastated. As the incurable illness spreads to new cities and the symptoms linger, there is growing concern that ReDS ReLIEF alone will be unable to meet the global demand for critical assistance. BergMantra writes, “We’re grateful to the ReDS ReLIEF team, but they are already stretched too thin. We desperately need other kinds of help.”
Superstruct Challenge: What can we do in our own communities to provide ReDS relief and support?

GEAS volunteer greenblade is podcasting news from Atlanta, “The giant Pacific Atlantic insurance company announced today that it would no longer offer health care packages to employers with offices in the ReDS zone. Pacific Atlantic cites the costly long term debilitation suffered by ReDS victims which has already led to the collapse of local health insurers in Floria, Texas and Louisiana. Greenblade says, “This is a blow for workers everywhere, not just in the ReDS zone. Anyone who works for a global company is likely to lose coverage now.”
Superstruct Challenge: Without traditional insurance, how can we pool our resources to protect our health?

GEAS volunteer okalu_samu is blogging from the Kenyan coast city of Mombasa where private armed forces have flooded the city. These mercenaries are allegedly funded by the Saudis and are trying to quarantine the Nubian ethnic community. Politicians are chalking it up to same old tribal conflicts but GEAS volunteers have reported similar events unfolding in New Orleans and Marseilles. Samu writes, “It’s the combination of poverty, slums, and freelance armies that’s producing all these powder keg responses to contagion.”
Superstruct Challenge: How can we protect ourselves in this outbreak without taking up arms?

GEAS volunteer elfreida reports that the Russian [map reads: Novosibirsk, Russia] anti-ReDS bacteriophage MyBO4 has unexpectedly turned up in Pakistan [map reads: Karachi, Pakistan]. MyBO4, one of the only known viruses capable of infecting and killing the bacteria that cause Respiratory Distress Syndrome, was developed last year by two Russian teams using a cheap, do it yourself biotechnology toolkit. The Russian government arrested them when they started distributing it through open source channels. Russian officials cited the dangers of unlicensed reproduction of antivirus. But open source scientists claim that the Russians really want to own the virus. Elfreida says, “Pakistan needs this virus. I don’t care how it got here. It just goes to show that governments can’t decide who lives and who dies.”
Superstruct Challenge: How can we quickly invent and share new cures worldwide without introducing new dangers?