Post by The Grey Merlin on Feb 12, 2010 7:46:18 GMT -6
Brett ran her fingers through her hair, reading through the report once more. Still not much in actual causes of how this thing all began. The Department of Disease Control out of Atlanta was just as clueless as officials and medical personnel in Racoon city were.
How did one treat something that there was no record of and no way of getting one of the infected people in to examine? There was no way she was going to have one of them in the Center to study ... much too dangerous and she'd not risk any of those that had remained within the city, mostly those that had no family to get to safety or those that were dedicated to upholding their medical oaths.
About the only thing she could say with certainy was how it was apparently transmitted ... through a bite, just like rabies. That had caused her to go through files on the disease that could be passed from animal species and humans by a bite, but then, there was still no way she could test that theory ... there would be no volunteers that would allow themselves to be bitten.
She leaned back in the chair, thinking. Almost half of her staff had left the city. And she had been against that from the beginning. What if they were carriers of the disease? What if those that left would be the harbingers of doom spreading the disease further through the country by going to their family members that lived in other regions? There would be no way to contain that. The city should have been totally quarentined and no one allowed out of the city once they were in it. And that would include any military personnel that were brought in to keep order. She had no doubt that the National Guard was going crazy with things as it was.
She sighed. There was no way of telling if someone with symptoms like a cold or flu were actually infected. There was no way of knowing any incubation period, since from reports, some had changed almost immediately after being bitten while others had gone days with being ill before dying and walking once more.
She reached for her cellphone. She knew that she shouldn't bother her brother while he was working, but, she had promised to let him know that she was alright or when she was going to be leaving the Center. She hit the speed dial and she got his voicemail.
"Lee ... its 5:45 ... heading home. Taking the detour route that is still open, an area that was in the direct route was declared contaminated about ninety minutes ago. That will add another fifteen minutes travel time. Should be home around 6:30. Love you ..."
Her estimate of forty-five minutes to get home was conservative, not knowing how much traffic she would be getting into, not knowing how many were still within the city limits and how much moving around the National Guard and the law enforcements were conducting. She hung her lab coat on the hook by the door and grabbed her carry-all and her keys after pocketing her cellphone. She then did the one thing that Lee would probably blow a gasket about under different circumstances, but, she wasn't taking any chances. She pulled the P232 from its holster that she had been wearing. A strange combination ... she was a doctor dedicated to saving lives and yet she carried one of law enforcement's lightest handheld weapons. She checked the magazine and the safety that would be release with a flick of her thumb.
Sighing, she slung the carryall over her shoulder and out the door she went, locking it behind her. She glanced at the officer standing guard at the end of the hallway, nodding politely, the man not seeming at all disturbed about her obviously being armed. She pushed open the door and headed towards her Jeep Liberty, rather glad now that she hadn't been talked out of it. If she needed to be someplace, its 4WD should get her there.
She unlocked it after checking the back seat out of habit and got in, locking it once more. She started it, checking that the gas tank was full and she backed out of her space and onto the main street by the Hospital and headed homeward, her mind still going over the reports and phone calls she had had today. That trip to the Austrailian Outback was looking better every hour.
How did one treat something that there was no record of and no way of getting one of the infected people in to examine? There was no way she was going to have one of them in the Center to study ... much too dangerous and she'd not risk any of those that had remained within the city, mostly those that had no family to get to safety or those that were dedicated to upholding their medical oaths.
About the only thing she could say with certainy was how it was apparently transmitted ... through a bite, just like rabies. That had caused her to go through files on the disease that could be passed from animal species and humans by a bite, but then, there was still no way she could test that theory ... there would be no volunteers that would allow themselves to be bitten.
She leaned back in the chair, thinking. Almost half of her staff had left the city. And she had been against that from the beginning. What if they were carriers of the disease? What if those that left would be the harbingers of doom spreading the disease further through the country by going to their family members that lived in other regions? There would be no way to contain that. The city should have been totally quarentined and no one allowed out of the city once they were in it. And that would include any military personnel that were brought in to keep order. She had no doubt that the National Guard was going crazy with things as it was.
She sighed. There was no way of telling if someone with symptoms like a cold or flu were actually infected. There was no way of knowing any incubation period, since from reports, some had changed almost immediately after being bitten while others had gone days with being ill before dying and walking once more.
She reached for her cellphone. She knew that she shouldn't bother her brother while he was working, but, she had promised to let him know that she was alright or when she was going to be leaving the Center. She hit the speed dial and she got his voicemail.
"Lee ... its 5:45 ... heading home. Taking the detour route that is still open, an area that was in the direct route was declared contaminated about ninety minutes ago. That will add another fifteen minutes travel time. Should be home around 6:30. Love you ..."
Her estimate of forty-five minutes to get home was conservative, not knowing how much traffic she would be getting into, not knowing how many were still within the city limits and how much moving around the National Guard and the law enforcements were conducting. She hung her lab coat on the hook by the door and grabbed her carry-all and her keys after pocketing her cellphone. She then did the one thing that Lee would probably blow a gasket about under different circumstances, but, she wasn't taking any chances. She pulled the P232 from its holster that she had been wearing. A strange combination ... she was a doctor dedicated to saving lives and yet she carried one of law enforcement's lightest handheld weapons. She checked the magazine and the safety that would be release with a flick of her thumb.
Sighing, she slung the carryall over her shoulder and out the door she went, locking it behind her. She glanced at the officer standing guard at the end of the hallway, nodding politely, the man not seeming at all disturbed about her obviously being armed. She pushed open the door and headed towards her Jeep Liberty, rather glad now that she hadn't been talked out of it. If she needed to be someplace, its 4WD should get her there.
She unlocked it after checking the back seat out of habit and got in, locking it once more. She started it, checking that the gas tank was full and she backed out of her space and onto the main street by the Hospital and headed homeward, her mind still going over the reports and phone calls she had had today. That trip to the Austrailian Outback was looking better every hour.