Free Web NovelChapter 644: Chapter 643 Epidemic Prevention Work_1
Several days later, Rose Iron Prison, core area inmate cafeteria.
"The portion size for this meal is really cursed. My appetite is more than ten times yours, and yet they expect me to eat the same amount as everyone else," Lamia complained as she shoveled food into her mouth.
"That’s just how it is in prison, meals are at fixed times and amounts. Normal people’s appetites can’t compare to a magical beast’s," Presia said from across the table, giving her a glance, "Besides, you might want to work on your table manners."
Lamia barely used utensils when she ate, just using her hands to scrape together a few bites before lifting the plate and dumping the rest into her mouth.
"It’s a wonder Lamia doesn’t just swallow the plate whole during her performance. If you’re still hungry, you can actually request to buy some canned goods and bread," said Daili, who sat one seat away from Presia, "But I reckon the whole commissary’s stock would only be enough for one meal for you."
"Achoo!"
A sneeze from not too far away caused Qiqimora, who had just arrived and placed their food on the table, to frown. "Looking at these people dripping nasal mucus and spitting saliva into their meals really turns my stomach."
"That sort of minor thing isn’t worth fussing over," Lamia said indifferently.
"It’s because you’re too rough," Qiqimora shot back with a disdainful glance.
"Of course, when Lamia swallows her prey whole, she never worries about whether there’s piss or poop in their stomachs, does she?" Daili teased.
"You assholes, must you discuss these topics while eating?" Presia snapped angrily.
"The cold has been quite widespread lately," Daili looked around, "After all, it’s the season for epidemics, so now we have to sit every other seat when we eat."
"Only a lame body would catch such common infectious diseases," Lamia said with disdain.
Her magical beast body was immune to most diseases, especially contagious ones.
"The only one here who needs to worry about this is probably Presia," Qiqimora said, as she too had methods to deal with illnesses.
"No need to worry, as long as I have my casting privileges, I can use demonic possession to cure diseases," Daili said with a smile.
"Having that kind of parasite crawl into your body, I’ll never get used to it no matter how many times it happens," Presia shook her head.
About every two or three years, an epidemic would break out in the prison, often during spring.
So when the flu started to spread throughout the prison, it did not attract much attention.
A female inmate stood up holding her tray; most of her meal was left uneaten.
"Not feeling hungry?" her nearby roommate asked.
"I felt pretty good this morning, but now I’m starting to feel a bit sick," the inmate said.
"Lucky you, having an excuse to slack off in the infirmary," her roommate said with a laugh.
"Damn it, I’m starting to get a headache. What’s there to envy?" the inmate cursed.
She carried her tray a few steps, then suddenly felt dizzy.
She stopped in her tracks, swaying slightly.
The person behind her, also carrying a tray, grew impatient and tapped her on the shoulder, "Don’t just stand there, what are you, a pillar?"
At that tap, the female inmate immediately fell forward, the tray hitting the ground and spilling the food.
"Damn it, it was just a tap, are you trying to scam me?" the person who had tapped her exclaimed in shock, while raising their hands towards the nearby guards, "Officer, this isn’t my fault, I just gave her a light tap on the shoulder."
The fallen inmate struggled to breathe, trying to get up only to feel an unbearable soreness throughout her body. Her vision started to blur and melt as the disease rapidly drained the life force from her body.
A dark fog spread before her eyes and her consciousness uncontrollably sank into the depths, engulfed by darkness.
...
In the conference room, Aiden was holding a routine meeting with the heads of the residential areas and the office.
"From what I saw while patrolling, many inmates in Residential Area Two are not wearing masks, and the guards aren’t reminding them. Some on-duty guards aren’t wearing their gas masks properly either, which needs to be corrected," Aiden said to the head of Residential Area Two, "This year’s epidemic is fierce, and a prison is a dense gathering place; we must take proper precautions."
"Understood," the head of Residential Area Two bowed his head.
"It’s the same for all residential areas. The cotton cloth masks we produce ourselves cannot be as effective as gas masks, so it’s important to maintain distance and hygiene habits among the inmates. The guards need to properly wear their gas masks, which may bring some managerial inconveniences, but it is necessary," Aiden continued.
Controlling an epidemic is a common issue in prison management, especially since Rose Iron Prison housed a population at the scale of four thousand inmates. An outbreak could become particularly troublesome.
The level of development in this world was limited. Academically, some pathways of epidemic transmission were known, but education among the general population fell short; many inmates and even guards did not have a very correct concept of how to prevent infections.
As for control technology, this world didn’t even have the regular masks that Aiden had seen in his past life. The best device available was the plague doctor’s beak-shaped gas mask that the Heretic Inquisitors often wore, but it wasn’t realistic to supply one to each inmate.
By the time Aiden received the reports and identified the issue, a considerable number of inmates had already contracted the flu.
Aiden could only isolate some of the inmates and then have the textile workshop speed up the production of ordinary cotton masks to have the inmates wear them, hoping to reduce the spread of droplets in the air to some extent.
"Warden, in fact, the medical room had reported a problem," the head of the core area Flandre raised her hand to speak, "The doctors say that this year, the number of inmates with severe symptoms is significantly more than in previous years and they’re recovering more slowly." freёwebnoѵel.com
"Then we need to be even more cautious," Aiden replied, "I’ll still be doing unannounced inspections of each area, and I hope everyone can fulfill the tasks outlined in the epidemic prevention manual."
Although he took epidemic prevention seriously, he hadn’t yet connected it with supernatural phenomena. After all, influenza epidemics weren’t that unusual in prisons, and the prison still needed to operate as usual.
Urgent footsteps approached, and then Veronica suddenly burst through the door of the conference room.
All the heads of the residential areas and the office turned their surprised gazes towards Veronica.
Aiden was quite surprised but immediately realized that if Veronica rushed over and burst in like this, it must be something urgent.
"What’s happened?" Aiden asked.
"The medical room sent me to relay a message—One of the inmates seems to be in critical condition!" Veronica said urgently.
"What?"
