| The Canary Project | |
|---|---|
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Vital statistics
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| Type | Government Facility/Unit of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention |
| Level | Unknown |
| Location | W. 27th Street, Manhattan, NY (HQ: Atlanta) |
| Inhabitants | Dr. Ephraim Goodweather, Dr. Nora Martinez, & Jim Kent |
The Canary project is a rapid-response team of field epidemiologists organized to detect and identify incipient biological threats. Its purview included both naturally occurring threats, such as viral and rickettsial diseases found in nature, and man-made outbreaks—although most of their funding came thanks to Canary’s obvious bioterrorism implications. New York City was the nerve center, with smaller, university hospital-based satellite Canaries facilities stood up in Miami, Los Angeles, Denver, and Chicago.
The program drew its name from the old coal miner’s trick of bringing a caged canary underground as a crude yet efficient biological early warning system. The bright yellow bird’s highly sensitive metabolism detected methane and carbon monoxide gas traces before they reached toxic or even explosive levels, causing the normally chirpy creature to fall silent and sway on its perch.
In this modern age, every human being had the potential to be that sentinel canary. Eph’s team’s job was to isolate them once they stopped singing, treat the infected, and contain the spread.
(Basically mobile versions of Atlanta, Georgia's headquarters).