Just Finished Reading Survivor Song by Paul Tremblay

Survivor Song, published in the late spring of 2020, is a horror novel about the outbreak of an especially virulent strain of rabies in New England and the reactions of the government and surrounding community.  The author, Paul Tremblay, wrote the entire story before the Covid-19 outbreak, yet it reads in sections like a primer on the real scourge that swept across the world.  This is true especially with regard to the book's depiction of right-wing conspiracy/militia nuts.  The protagonists include Natalie, a woman in the last stage of pregnancy, whose husband is attacked and killed in their rural Massachusetts home by an infected man: the intruder succeeds in biting and infecting her. Natalie contacts her old college friend Ramola, now a physician, and the two embark on a harrowing journey to find a hospital or clinic to treat her dire condition.  This is hampered by the region-wide quarantine with armed forces patrolling the roads and restricting traffic.  Also, the area they must traverse is full of wild, infected animals and a few humans who transform into zombie-like, biting monsters when they are infected.  That's the background...what I liked about this novel, which I read through a recommendation by Stephen King on Twitter, is the relationship between Natalie and Ramola and the personal life stories of each woman: very compelling and heartbreaking.  Three years ago, I read A Head Full of Ghosts by the same author...click on the title to read my review.  Tremblay is an excellent writer in this genre, and I might as well check out his other works...

Just Saying...From a January 1970 Newspaper Report

 

TRYING TO PREVENT INFLUENZA is the title to a caption appearing in the January 1st, 1970 edition of the Hollywood Sun-Tattler, distributed by United Press International.  The picture displays four London, England office workers at their typewriter stations, all wearing masks to prevent the spread of influenza during a serious epidemic at that time.  I've yet to come across any reports of mass uprisings of indignant citizens opposing masks in the name of their "liberty": I'll let you know if I do, but I doubt it...folks back then understood their RESPONSIBILITY to each other in the midst of a public health crisis. No, I don't know whether there were mask mandates imposed then, but maybe they didn't need to be if the populace had enough common sense to wear them in the first place...

Here is the text of the caption: "TRYING TO PREVENT INFLUENZA--London office workers wear masks in an effort to evade the current influenza epidemic that hit Britain and most of Europe.  Emergency influenza cases in London rose to their highest level in seven years.  Volunteer nurses stepped in to fill gaps in hospital staffs throughout the country as the number of cases climbed and doctors and nurses were among victims of the outbreak.".