How long would it take for chaos to overcome the world during a world wide pandemic? Months? Hours?

I recommend that everyone watch the British show Survivors, because it's precisely the scenario I'm describing. It's from BBC, the same broadcasters as Doctor Who, and it's an awesome show.

ANYwho, let's say some off-the-wall, worst case scenario occurred. A pandemic, a brand new deadly disease that people have no real immunity to, spreads across the entire world. This mystery disease kills a person within the first few hours of obtaining it. Let's just say, perhaps, that this disease spreads through a new vaccine after a flu scare. Everyone who receives the vaccine gets the disease and dies hours later. Then, somehow, this new disease becomes catchy even for people who haven't been injected.

At that point, everyone in the world is up for grabs for this virus. Very very few people are able to fight off the virus, less than one percent of the population... but everyone else dies.

Okay, assuming that this scenario, or a similar one, were to take place... exactly how long would it take for a deadly virus to reach everyone in the world? How many days, weeks, or hours?

And after, or during, the spread of the pandemic... how long would it take for the survivors to break out in chaos, fighting over cans of soup and taking over grocery stores? How many days would it take for the chaos to begin, when the hospitals are full and the people are dropping like flies?

Please give me your educated response, and tell me why you think it would take as long as whatever estimate you gave. Thank you very much for your input.

One week, anywhere that is next to a paved road will know someone who has the virus, by the time the WHO realizes whats going on, it will be too late, the bigger the organisation, the slower it moves, if at all. I am preped as I can be, I hope it does not happen.

I dont think it would go completely wrong.

The world didn't go tits up even during events as terrible as the Black Death, and any of the other plagues that followed. Same with the Spanish Flu, that was right after/during a world war and the goverments still remained in control.

The sad truth is, the more people that become because of the disease, the more people will be required to take care of them, meaning less people out to outright cause trouble. At the end, the more that die, the less their are to control and worry about.

The only thing I can see causing issues is our reliance on energy generation and utilities, as people become ill there will be less to control the power plants/pumping stations etc, which could cause shortages but you have to remember there are contingencies in place for all of them.

Remember when the swine flu was doing the rounds and everyone was convinced it was the next super-death-plague of awesome? The next day my office already had a risk assessement in place to be able to deal with any sickness etc, as would most companies throughout the country.

I imagine the CDC has ran through so many scenarios that the chances of complete social collapse are remote at best.

reply to post by Hyena

During the other outbreaks of the great plagues, we were not as interconnected as we are now. Travel between continents took weeks, days in the case of the Spanish Flu. Now SARS(or any other disease) from China(or anywhere else) could be everywhere in 24 hours.

you would have to hunker down for at least 9 weeks or so until the virus peeters out...but then you have to worry about the bad stuff that isnt virus related...namely....each other.

dood
within hours of finding out...
I'll be hunting down cans
of Campbells chicken noodle
with my high caps...

I think allot of us are way more prepared then people like to give credit for an upcoming disaster.

If everyone keeps a cool head and starts making preparations immediatley I think more would overcome than people think.

Big governement just has people convicned that you can't take care of yourself but I for one know they are wrong.

Remember everyone...

You have two hands and a brain and with that and putting people together we can accomplish amazing things.

Well, how long before people went nuts... not sure.

But I do know that the survivors would only survive until the nuclear power stations started going critical...

reply to post by Recouper


If it was highly contagious then people would be shooting weapons at anyone coming near them. All laws become meaningless within days. The needs of the many become the needs of ME. Contact with people means death so anyone comes near they die. Just look at new orleans and how that went. Within days of people going hungry you would be better off staying away from any groups. We think were so civilised but when law goes out the window it all up for grabs. Way worse than most think.

Hours, as people would have a run on banks and then stores to stock up on everything before a quarantine took effect. Then it would get worse from there as their supplies dwindled over the days, weeks or months.

I'd say 24-48 hours. With modern travel, People go everywhere, incredibly fast. Unfortunately, the large cities where the airports and mass populations are, would be the most affected. And of course, these are mostly the same people with little to no food stocked up. So even if they stayed quarantined in their homes, they wouldn't have any food. The people living in the rural areas stand a much greater chance of avoiding the effects of such a scenario.