# Has There Ever Been an Actual Large Scale Quarantine in the US?



## PeachesBackwards (Sep 8, 2015)

Starting to watch the fictional TV Series "Containment" about the quarantining of an area in Atlanta due to a deadly man made virus and it got me wondering if in fact there has ever been any kind of large scale Quarantine in the US or any Non-Third World city? Anyone know? Not talking about Ebola outbreaks in Africa.


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## FrankW (Mar 10, 2012)

In this country there has never been a quarantine of a whole town or even whole residential area for purposes of public health.


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## Country Living (Dec 15, 2009)

I had to refresh my memory. The closest thing to a quarantine was probably in St. Louis during the flu outbreak of 1918. Instead of confining people to a specific location, the authorities implemented what is known as "social distancing". School, churches, theaters, dances, football games, playgrounds, taverns, any place where a group of people could gather were closed. It saved a lot of lives.

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/...cle_aa4b3141-696f-5849-bf37-ad1fcacb7f3f.html



> ST. LOUIS • On Oct. 5, 1918, the city health department issued this warning: "Avoid persons with colds."
> 
> Dr. Max C. Starkloff, health commissioner, knew that wasn't nearly enough. Two days later, with Mayor Henry Kiel's strong backing, he issued an emergency order closing schools, theaters, pool halls, playgrounds and other public places. Starkloff quickly added churches and taverns, and restricted attendance at funerals. Streetcars were limited to seated passengers.
> 
> ...


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## PeachesBackwards (Sep 8, 2015)

Thanks for info. Because of so many fictional displays of Quarantines in the movies and TV, I worried about this scenario when in fact I've learned here it hasn't happened yet. I won't discount the possibility but I won't put it high on my list of things to prepare/worry about.


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## Country Living (Dec 15, 2009)

It's pretty high on our list; therefore, a pandemic, including when to social distance, is included in our plan. We are not going to wait until the government issues an emergency warning for us to implement our plan.

ETA: This is in our plan. Number 6 will probably be our first clue to initiate our own quarantine procedures.
_The time to make preparations for a worst-case scenario is now. The following are six key warning signs you should be looking for. When these events come to pass or you see these signals, you should strongly consider implementing a self-quarantine lockdown.

Emergency officials say they have the situation under control; but, more cases continue to pop up.
Local and state governments officially declare an emergency.
Cases have been identified at your local hospital or at schools in your general vicinity.
The general public begins to panic and store shelves start running out of key supplies like food and bottled water.
Looting and lawlessness occurs within the local community.
The virus breaches a 50 mile radius surrounding your home or town.
_


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## Caribou (Aug 18, 2012)

Perhaps not in America yet but there are numerous cases over the centuries where borders have been closed, ships, individuals, or groups have been quarantined. 

When the bird flu scare was big a few years ago we were invited to go into a self quarantine at a remote location only accessible by boat or float plane. We were told what the criteria was to trigger the departure, and that we either left in a narrow window or not at all and that we should be prepared.


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## PeachesBackwards (Sep 8, 2015)

*Country Living- Local and state governments declare an emergency Is this Enough Time*

to get the hell out of where you are living or Hunker and Barricade Yourself In and how much time (in days or weeks do you have to get out roughly, best and worst case scenario)? Thanks for pointing this out. I kind of erroneously assumed that there wouldn't be an adequate warning sign ahead of time and this probably is.



Country Living said:


> It's pretty high on our list; therefore, a pandemic, including when to social distance, is included in our plan. We are not going to wait until the government issues an emergency warning for us to implement our plan.
> 
> ETA: This is in our plan. Number 6 will probably be our first clue to initiate our own quarantine procedures.
> _The time to make preparations for a worst-case scenario is now. The following are six key warning signs you should be looking for. When these events come to pass or you see these signals, you should strongly consider implementing a self-quarantine lockdown.
> ...


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## LastOutlaw (Jun 1, 2013)

The U.S. quarantined Japanese Americans from the rest of the citizens during WWII. Does that count?


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## bigg777 (Mar 18, 2013)

LastOutlaw said:


> The U.S. quarantined Japanese Americans from the rest of the citizens during WWII. Does that count?


That was my first thought also. Of course, that would never happen in this enlightened age we now live in. No one would ever segregate and detain a class of legal citizens today.

Yeah, right.

Don't bet your life on it.


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## FrankW (Mar 10, 2012)

PS: one of the big give-away if its a pandemic when hospitals are full and need to cross deck patients between locations.


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## DrPrepper (Apr 17, 2016)

BlueZ said:


> PS: one of the big give-away if its a pandemic when hospitals are full and need to cross deck patients between locations.


or when we start putting up GP medium and GP large tents in the parking lots to house overflow patients........


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## LastOutlaw (Jun 1, 2013)

Ok, I looked for the opening scene from Steven King's "The Stand" with the Blue Oyster Cult song " Dont fear the reaper" . 
THEY BLOCKED IT! ARRRRRGH


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