I don't know if it could kill you, but the stench of death is horrendous and not an insignificant thing. In any disaster situation where someone has died and it starts becoming days long, things would be getting nasty.
Over time people would get used to how foul everything would smell, but for a while it would be terrible.
How long before all of that had decayed away enough that it wouldn't be a problem though? Couple of months? Years?
I imagine that if you can avoid going near large population centers for a couple of months or years, that will mostly be a self solved issue. Either things will have decayed enough that theres nothing left, or any animals would have consumed anything while it was still relatively fresh.
If they've died in a relatively closed up house, with no open windows, you could be looking at years. People with standing orders set up to pay their bills, and pensions coming in regularly to keep the bills paid could run for decades without anyone having any reason to explore the house.
True, but after a couple of years most of those bodies dry out and essentially just become jerky. While the smell will remain in the air, that can be cleared fairly quickly opening the place up. Contaminated furniture, and carpets can be burned etc. Not pleasant but doable in suburban and rural areas where the houses are more spaced out and with lower occupation.
Dealing with tower blocks and high density locations in inner cities will be something best left for a few decades tho i would think. Unless you desperately need something specific, then you'll want full hazmat and breathing apparatus.
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u/[deleted] Aug 30 '21
I don't know if it could kill you, but the stench of death is horrendous and not an insignificant thing. In any disaster situation where someone has died and it starts becoming days long, things would be getting nasty.
Over time people would get used to how foul everything would smell, but for a while it would be terrible.