# Contagion in Hibernia: Could Ireland be sealed off? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 22, 2011, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contagion-in-hibernia-could-ireland-be-sealed-off/607090 "2011-12-22T16:34:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![No\_Wikipedia\_Cites](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@No\_Wikipedia\_Cites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/No_Wikipedia_Cites)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contagion-in-hibernia-could-ireland-be-sealed-off/607090/1 "2011-12-22T16:34:56Z")
In the Movie _Contagion_ they show a map of the world and slowly the disease spreads; however as it appears in the movie, western Europe takes a hit as the disease spreads, and it hits Southeast England hard, but good news, Ireland proper is not affected (yet). So pretending you are the political big man in Ireland (Republic), and your Island was still disease free, could you somehow isolate your island? Like what would happen if they banned incoming planes (except for maybe a small number of doctors or officials who had to go through quarantine)–and of course, for the purposes of this discussion, the Northern Ireland authorities are 100% willing to cooperate across any sectarian lines and national lines (the fear of grusome death helps). Could it be done? Could NI keep out residents from Britain and hordes of possibly already infected Londoners fleeing the disease? Could a large island somehow escape the contagion entirely? ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contagion-in-hibernia-could-ireland-be-sealed-off/607090/2 "2011-12-22T16:37:31Z")
I’m going to say, not a chance. There are too many private sea going vessels that could make that short journey across the Irish Sea from Britain (or for that matter from the Continent) and too much coastline in Ireland to be entirely monitored all the time. Plus the Irish Navy is miniscule. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contagion-in-hibernia-could-ireland-be-sealed-off/607090/3 "2011-12-22T16:48:25Z")
It’s well known that only Madagascar can successfully isolate itself in case of pandemic. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contagion-in-hibernia-could-ireland-be-sealed-off/607090/4 "2011-12-22T18:14:45Z")
I’d say it depends on how long the Irish people can go without tea. ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contagion-in-hibernia-could-ireland-be-sealed-off/607090/5 "2011-12-22T18:20:17Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > It’s well known that only Madagascar can successfully isolate itself in case of pandemic. Couldn’t Iceland? ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contagion-in-hibernia-could-ireland-be-sealed-off/607090/6 "2011-12-22T18:30:10Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > Couldn’t Iceland? He’s referring to a flash game online called pandemic or epidemic or something. The game’s code had a semi-bug where Madagascar would freak out and completely seal its borders the moment anybody on Earth had so much as a sniffle. Edit: Lest I be thought to exaggerate, I do not. The game let you play a _disease_, and you could keep yourself from having any bad effects whatsoever, if you wanted to spread quickly instead of harm. Madagascar would sometimes compeltely seal itself before you’d ever hurt anyone, or if a single soul in London got a cold. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contagion-in-hibernia-could-ireland-be-sealed-off/607090/7 "2011-12-22T18:59:07Z")
I don’t think Southern Ireland could do it on its own, as it has neither the navy nor the airforce to interdict its borders, but if you grant it an uninfected Royal Navy courtesy of Northern Ireland, then I think you’ve got a fighting chance. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2011, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contagion-in-hibernia-could-ireland-be-sealed-off/607090/8 "2011-12-23T21:50:51Z")
Is the question about islands quarantining themselves in general, or about islands whose territory is divided between two or more independent countries, such as Ireland or Hispaniola? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2011, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contagion-in-hibernia-could-ireland-be-sealed-off/607090/9 "2011-12-23T23:04:05Z")
The only islands which can successfully cut themselves off are those which are far from population centers (Ireland ain’t it), and relatively self sufficient at least for timespans measured in weeks. The Falklands might qualify. The Seychilles or Diego Garcia might. Hawaii or Guam could. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2011, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contagion-in-hibernia-could-ireland-be-sealed-off/607090/10 "2011-12-23T23:14:59Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > He’s referring to a flash game online called pandemic or epidemic or something. The game’s code had a semi-bug where Madagascar would freak out and completely seal its borders the moment anybody on Earth had so much as a sniffle. Pandemic 2. There’s more than one winning disease in the game’s leaderboard called Fuck You, Madagascar. (Greenland’s weird, several times I’ve completely wiped out the populace but the shipyards and airports would still be open. Apparently Greenlanders take their jobs super-seriously.) ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2011, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contagion-in-hibernia-could-ireland-be-sealed-off/607090/11 "2011-12-24T04:17:40Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > Couldn’t Iceland? Or New Zealand. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2011, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contagion-in-hibernia-could-ireland-be-sealed-off/607090/12 "2011-12-24T14:39:37Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > (Greenland’s weird, several times I’ve completely wiped out the populace but the shipyards and airports would still be open. Apparently Greenlanders take their jobs super-seriously.) Holy zombie transportation Batman! If the disease kills and spreads pretty quickly, any island without major airports and a long boat ride away from any place that has some should have a fighting chance. Even if they DO have an airport, it would still be pretty easy to just kill anybody trying to land or landing (and I guess if they wanted to be nice and take a chance they could just quarintine those that did land).