[Mom MD]

I doubt this is bioterrorism. But keep in mind to cripple this country, a viral or disease outbreak does not need to have a high mortality rate. At any given time during flu season, there are no free hospital beds in most big cities, let alone ICU beds. Now add to that tens of thousands of people sick enough to seek medical care/need hospitalization, and the system would break overnight.

[April Lexington]

I doubt this is bioterrorism. But keep in mind to cripple this country, a viral or disease outbreak does not need to have a high mortality rate. At any given time during flu season, there are no free hospital beds in most big cities, let alone ICU beds. Now add to that tens of thousands of people sick enough to seek medical care/need hospitalization, and the system would break overnight.

Then add the gross inefficiencies of nationalized health care and... poof!

[Big_Monkey]

"But keep in mind to cripple this country, a viral or disease outbreak does not need to have a high mortality rate. At any given time during flu season, there are no free hospital beds in most big cities, let alone ICU beds. Now add to that tens of thousands of people sick enough to seek medical care/need hospitalization, and the system would break overnight.

I'm surprised by some here that are so cavalier about this. As you point out, even a very low mortality rate could be devastating to the country's health care system - impacting not only those infected with possible flu, but the other hundreds of thousands of patients with non-flu sickness or injury.

I'm not an alarmist, but even a less-than-deadly, but highly-contagious flu would be very damaging to an economy that's already on the brink.