Are we looking at a prelude to a "Planet of the Apes" type infectious disease that'll wipe out 1/3 of the population?
If you catch it does it turn you into a zombie?
“Are we looking at a prelude to a “Planet of the Apes” type infectious disease that’ll wipe out 1/3 of the population?”
No.
But it is more fun to scream and run around predicting all manner of doom because folks are bored.
No. The current rate of death is around 2.7%. The people that are passing on have compromised immune system, elderly etc. Not that the media is going out of its way to report this information.
I think that’s the plan.
Who knows? The 1918 Spanish Flu epidemic seemed innocent, but killed many millions worldwide, overshadowed by the war dead from WWI. The difference from other flu strains is that instead of targeting babies and elderly for death, it killed healthy young adults. It overwhelmed immune reactions that are strongest in the healthy and killed them, while weaker babies and elderly got sick but survived.
I was reading that it hit Pacific Islanders especially hard with really high percentages of population killed (a third or higher). Meanwhile, American Samoa didn't have any fatalities because the local governor blocked travel into the island - smart move. Authorities here today won't try to stop a spread.