Thanks To ‘The Walking Dead,’ The CDC’s Website Once Crashed As People Prepped For The Zombie Apocalypse

For those that have visited the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) because they had heard there was a “Zombie Preparation” page, it was a bit of fun knowing that the CDC had set up such a page. However, at one point, this page was so successful with drawing in website visitors that it once crashed the CDC’s website.

According to a recent interview that The Walking Dead’s executive producer Gale Anne Hurd did with WTF with Marc Maron, an influx of Walking Dead fans once crashed the CDC’s website. She also explained that the zombie preparedness page also came about with the help of The Walking Dead, according to Comic Book.

“The Center for Disease Control came to us and said, ‘Listen, we can’t get people who are facing an outbreak of SARS or a hurricane to come on our website and find out what they should do to prepare,’ and [asked], ‘Can we do a how-to-prepare for a zombie apocalypse?'” Hurd revealed in the podcast.

AMC and The Walking Dead were happy to help out. However, it turned out to be more than the CDC’s server could deal with at one point.

“We said sure. And then they had such an enormous response that it crashed their website.”

According to Gale Anne Hurd, preparation for the zombie apocalypse also offers some very solid advice for those wanting to prep for other disasters., especially for those that are related to infectious disease.

“The truth is, preparing for a zombie apocalypse is very much like preparing for any kind of disaster that you might face. Because people are contagious, and you need to stock up for supplies, and all that. And they’re prepared for any kind of disaster that might befall them.”

After all, if the CDC can use the popularity of a TV series such as The Walking Dead to help raise awareness about what to do in a disaster situation, it means that many more people could, potentially, be saved if an infectious disaster were to occur. And, with instances of infectious diseases such as bird flu growing, this situation could become a reality at some point. So, it makes sense for the CDC to try to reach out to as many people as possible.

The Walking Dead will return to AMC with Season 9 on Sunday, February 10, 2019, at 9 p.m. ET. You can also find out more about how to prepare for the zombie apocalypse — and other related disaster scenarios by visiting the CDC’s Zombie Preparation page.