The Minister is presented with a few options of where to quarentine the infected people. Of the places suggested, they agree that the old, abandoned mental hospital is the best place to have the quarentine. What is significant about this choice?

A mental hospital, especially at the time, meant a place for people deemed unfit to be with the rest of society: being there meant great social stigma. Another kind of blindness made visible by the "white sickness" is the blindness to the fragility of society and the benefits of civilization. Those stricken by the white sickness are essentially thrown into a completely savage situation. They are, in many ways, worse off than animals because they do not know how to cope with this situation that is completely new to them. In this situation, any piece of civilization is a luxury to them and takes on a completely new importance. Take for example, the washing of the body of the rape victim who dies in the quarantine. The women wash her body and their own to distinguish themselves from animals. A glass of water also takes on a profound importance for these people who find themselves in a situation with absolutely no potable water. Their blindness makes them able to see what a miracle these small things are.