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  • 2021-03-04 (xsd:date)
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  • Did the CDC Issue Zombie Apocalypse Guidelines in 2021 Because of... (en)
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  • Did the CDC Issue Zombie Apocalypse Guidelines in 2021 Because of a Nostradamus Prophecy? Claim The CDC issued guidance on a zombie apocalypse in 2021, inspired by a prophecy from Nostradamus about the half-dead. Rating Not True Like this fact check? Reporting On March 3 2021, a number of Fox affiliates shared an article claiming that due to a purported 2021 Nostradamus prophecy, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had created just in case guidance for a zombie apocalypse: IF YOU THOUGHT 2020 WAS BAD: One of Nostradamus’ famous predictions is that 2021 will be the year that a zombie apocalypse will take over — so you better be prepared! Posted by FOX 5 / Fox5NY.com on Wednesday, March 3, 2021 The dubious Twitter feed @UberFacts soon chimed in: Back in the 16th century, French astrologer Nostradamus predicted that there would be a zombie apocalypse in 2021 The CDC is giving advice on how to prepare, just in case — UberFacts (@UberFacts) March 4, 2021 The Pitch: Nostradamus, Zombies, and the CDC In the Facebook post above, Fox affiliate WNYW wrote: IF YOU THOUGHT 2020 WAS BAD: One of Nostradamus’ famous predictions is that 2021 will be the year that a zombie apocalypse will take over — so you better be prepared! Florida is where wokes go to die... Please enable JavaScript Florida is where wokes go to die A March 2 2021 article from WNYW (Just in case: CDC shares tips on surviving a zombie apocalypse) began: If you thought 2020 was bad, how about a zombie apocalypse in 2021? Yearly-horoscope.org broke down some of the famous prophecies of Nostradamus, a French physician best known for his book Les Prophéties, which allegedly predicted future events. One of the predictions is that 2021 will be the year that a zombie apocalypse will take over — so you better be prepared! He predicted that a Russian scientist will allegedly create a biological weapon and produce a virus that can turn humankind into zombies, making humans extinct in the near future. Few young people: half−dead to give a start. Dead through spite, he will cause the others to shine, And in an exalted place some great evils to occur: Sad concepts will come to harm each one, Temporal dignified, the Mass to succeed. Fathers and mothers dead of infinite sorrows, Women in mourning, the pestilent she−monster: The Great One to be no more, all the world to end. Another Fox affiliate’s March 2 2021 reporting was headlined, CDC offers tips to survive zombie apocalypse ... just in case: As 2021 progresses amid a global pandemic, questions about a possible zombie apocalypse are swarming the internet. According to Nostradamus, 2021 will be packed with events that will forever shape the future of humanity. Nostradamus was born in the 16th century and was best known for his book Les Prophéties, a collection of prophecies he made. The French physician would express prophecies in verses, called quatrains. Many of his predictions later illustrated the rise to power of Adolf Hitler and the Second World War. He predicted that in 2021, a scientist would create a biological weapon and produce a virus that can turn humankind into zombies (as interpreted by astrologists). Few young people: half−dead to give a start... Both articles were structured near-identically, down to the introduction of the Few young people: half-dead to give a start ... Nostradamus quote. Immediately thereafter, WNYW wrote: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is now hoping to get you as prepared as possible just in case flesh-eating zombies become our number one enemy this year. KTVX added: To help calm qualms and concerns, the Center of Disease and Control and Preparedness shares tips on how you can be zombie ready in case of a sudden outbreak. A March 3 2021 Twitter search indicated that most tweets about Nostradamus involved a belief that the CDC issued March 2021 zombie preparedness guidance just in case. A Google Trends search further evidenced the shape of the story in its entirety; data for Nostradamus and related searches the week of March 3 2021 included: Nostradamus; CDC zombie apocalypse; Nostradamus 2021 predictions in tamil; CDC zombie, CDC zombies; Nostradamus zombie apocalypse; Is a zombies apocalypse possible; Zombie apocalypse 2021 CDC; Tips to survive zombie, and; CDC offers zombie tips. Yes, the CDC Does Have Advice for a ‘Zombie Apocalypse’ — Here’s Why However, WNYW linked to a CDC.gov blog post titled Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse — which we thought looked familiar . It was dated May 16 2011 (coming up on a decade old), and it was clearly unrelated to any events in 2020 or 2021. In fact, the first line was: Walking Dead fans, check out our latest post As for why the CDC was publishing content about zombie apocalypse preparedness, it was obvious in context that the agency was leveraging a 2011 trend to bring disaster preparedness to larger audiences that year. After explaining zombies, the CDC added: So what do you need to do before zombies ... or hurricanes or pandemics for example, actually happen? First of all, you should have an emergency kit in your house. This includes things like water, food, and other supplies to get you through the first couple of days before you can locate a zombie-free refugee camp (or in the event of a natural disaster, it will buy you some time until you are able to make your way to an evacuation shelter or utility lines are restored). Below are a few items you should include in your kit, for a full list visit the CDC Emergency page. Water (1 gallon per person per day) Food (stock up on non-perishable items that you eat regularly) Medications (this includes prescription and non-prescription meds) Tools and Supplies (utility knife, duct tape, battery powered radio, etc.) Sanitation and Hygiene (household bleach, soap, towels, etc.) Clothing and Bedding (a change of clothes for each family member and blankets) Important documents (copies of your driver’s license, passport, and birth certificate to name a few) First Aid supplies (although you’re a goner if a zombie bites you, you can use these supplies to treat basic cuts and lacerations that you might get during a tornado or hurricane) Not only did the CDC slide disaster preparedness information into a blog post capitalizing on the popularity of The Walking Dead , it also took the opportunity to provide a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it epidemiology primer: If zombies did start roaming the streets, CDC would conduct an investigation much like any other disease outbreak. CDC would provide technical assistance to cities, states, or international partners dealing with a zombie infestation. This assistance might include consultation, lab testing and analysis, patient management and care, tracking of contacts, and infection control (including isolation and quarantine). It’s likely that an investigation of this scenario would seek to accomplish several goals: determine the cause of the illness, the source of the infection/virus/toxin, learn how it is transmitted and how readily it is spread, how to break the cycle of transmission and thus prevent further cases, and how patients can best be treated. Not only would scientists be working to identify the cause and cure of the zombie outbreak, but CDC and other federal agencies would send medical teams and first responders to help those in affected areas (I will be volunteering the young nameless disease detectives for the field work). Another commonly linked page (@UberFacts followed up with it after their tweet) on CDC.gov explained : Wonder why zombies, zombie apocalypse, and zombie preparedness continue to live or walk dead on a CDC web site? As it turns out what first began as a tongue-in-cheek campaign to engage new audiences with preparedness messages has proven to be a very effective platform. We continue to reach and engage a wide variety of audiences on all hazards preparedness via zombie preparedness. Nostradamus and His Prophecies We first spotted mention of a 2021 zombie prophecy attributed to Nostradamus in Facebook groups, but the syndicated Fox affiliate story seeded the web with myriad variations on the claim. In the above-quoted articles, the source of the 2021 Nostradamus prophecy was vaguely described as interpreted by astrologers and quoted in part: Few young people: half−dead to give a start. Dead through spite, he will cause the others to shine, And in an exalted place some great evils to occur: Sad concepts will come to harm each one, Temporal dignified, the Mass to succeed. Fathers and mothers dead of infinite sorrows, Women in mourning, the pestilent she−monster: The Great One to be no more, all the world to end. Nostradamus was a well-known figure, and it was not uncommon for his name to be invoked after a major earth-shattering event tok place. His pop-culture relevance came well before the internet, but he was rumored to have predicted 9/11 — after the fact, of course. According to the Fox affiliates, the 2021 Nostradamus prediction primarily pertained to few young people: half−dead to give a start. We date-restricted a search for Few young people and half−dead to give a start, to restrict any mention occurring after November 3 2020 — a period in time after which the calamitous events of 2020 had largely come to pass. A whopping seven web pages were counted as having even just the segmented eight words of the prophecy; a few appeared to involve default dates in the year 2000. One of the seven appeared to have been published on May 9 2020 — well into the chaos of 2020, but still early in that year: However, clicking through led to an item published on December 27 2020; the display date was inaccurate. The opening paragraph mentioned proximity to Christmas, and a later section without citation read: But for 2021, Nostradamus allegedly wrote: On ‘Zombies’: Few young people: half−dead to give a start. Dead through spite, he will cause the others to shine, And in an exalted place some great evils to occur Sad concepts will come to harm each one, Temporal dignified, the Mass to succeed. Fathers and mothers dead of infinite sorrows, Women in mourning, the pestilent she−monster: The Great One to be no more, all the world to end. That excerpt followed an Instagram embed in Russian, which one could reasonably infer was in some way related to Nostradamus or zombies. But according to Google Translate, the Russian text said: Have a nice evening everyone 🙂❤️ thank you for being around. To whom the mood is – to Stories. What do you do? An undated book [ PDF ] hosted on public-library.uk, Writings of Nostradamus, included the quatrain in Almanac of 1564, on page 134 (as did the 2015 book The Complete Prophecies of Nostradamus ): From good to the evil times will change, The peace in the South, the expectation of the Greatest Ones: The Great Ones grieving Louis too much more will stumble, Well−known Shaven Ones have neither power not understanding. This is the month for evils so many as to be doubled, Deaths, plague to drain all, famine, to quarrel: Those of the reverse of exile will come to note, Great Ones, secrets, deaths, not to censure. Through death, death to bite, counsel, robbery, pestiferous, They will not dare to attack the Marines: Deucalion a final trouble to make, Few young people: half−dead to give a start. Dead through spite he will cause the others to shine, And in an exalted place some great evils to occur: Sad concepts will come to harm each one, Temporal dignified, the Mass to succeed Although the line existed, it was quite different from the form it took on in March 2021 (the Fox syndication version): Few young people: half−dead to give a start. Dead through spite, he will cause the others to shine, And in an exalted place some great evils to occur: Sad concepts will come to harm each one, Temporal dignified, the Mass to succeed. Fathers and mothers dead of infinite sorrows, Women in mourning, the pestilent she−monster: The Great One to be no more, all the world to end. Some of the part at the end in bold appeared several stanzas above in the book, but they appeared to have been creatively rearranged to fit a zombie apocalypse: Fathers and mothers dead of infinite sorrows, Women in mourning, the pestilent she−monster: The Great One to be no more, all the world to end, Under peace, repose and every single one in opposition. Princes and Christendom stirred up in debates, Foreign nobles, Christ’s See molested: Become very evil, much good, mortal sight. Death in the East, plague, famine, evil treaty. We also located a version archived in 2017/2018, in the format of the quatrains in order above. So Why Are News Outlets Pushing This Out Now? One reason was a continuation of what we’ve described as 2020 sucks memes — in general, content that spoke to the idea that 2020 was a calamitous year full of unpleasant surprises and unwanted history-making. We noted tabloids engaging in similar catastrophe-related reaches to generate traffic to their sites. A strong example of that sort of content was a viral (and admittedly seductive) claim that scientists discovered evidence of a parallel universe , better than the one we live in. The Nostradamus/2021/CDC/zombies thing wasn’t even the first time someone tried to shoehorn an eventful year into a different prophecy of Nostradamus. One element we observed recurring in 2020 was the idea that the year’s events were planned, scripted, intentional, or any number of descriptors to ascribe organization of (or blame for) the barrage of things happening to some larger (and perhaps long-foretold) meaning, outcome, or intelligence. Summary In early March 2021, a social media rumor, given the illusion of more public interest than actually existed by Fox network affiliates and aggregation, suggested that the CDC published zombie apocalypse guidelines that month due to a worrisome Nostradamus prophecy. In actuality, the CDC leveraged 2011 interest in zombies to educate people on disaster preparedness (and virus outbreaks). In March 2021, a largely-ignored Nostradamus excerpt from the Almanac of 1564 was re-arranged and edited to be more relevant and meaningful than it was in context. From there, Fox affiliates inaccurately suggested the 2011 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines were from 2021, providing unwarranted support for and interest in the idea Nostradamus predicted zombies for 2021. Posted in Fact Checks , Viral Content Tagged bad reporting , cdc zombie , nostradamus , nostradamus cdc zombies , not a fun fact , viral facebook posts , viral tweets (en)
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