Ames, Iowa (city)
Detailed Involvements
Events with rich location context
Bedrosien specifies Ames as NVSL hub processing downer cow tissue for initial tests—presumptive positive—elevating Midwestern lab to frontline sentinel; its role underscores decentralized testing chain feeding White House alarm.
Clinical lab intensity under crisis pressure
Preliminary diagnostic testing ground
Scientific bridge from farm to presidency
Federal lab personnel restricted
Ames, Iowa is invoked as the origin of some of the faxes (the 'Spreklettes'), giving geographic and cultural texture to the incoming mail and illustrating the nationwide public response that arrives as clutter in the bullpen.
Distant, provincial commentary filtering into the seat of power — both earnest and tone-deaf.
Source location for public faxes that shape staff attention and add noise to the inbox.
Symbolizes the reach of public opinion and the way small-town voices intrude upon national crisis management.
Events at This Location
Everything that happens here
Leo enters the Roosevelt Room, where Doctors Bedrosien and Califf deliver urgent news: a Nebraska herd, quarantined 18 months ago after accidental banned feed exposure, yielded a 'downer cow' with …
Amid a barrage of tone-deaf, often obscene faxes that underscore the public's frantic, voyeuristic response, Donna sifts through the mail and finds a Polaroid of Zoey tucked inside. The discovery …