Question: Why do the townsfolk let people come into town if there is a disease in the water. How are they staying alive? Do they know about it?
Question: What happened with Paul at the end and why did the police just kill everybody instead of getting help?
Answer: Paul returns briefly in the sequel, where he is hit and killed by a bus. The local doctor's office did not have the resources to take care of the virus, so rather than take any infected survivors to the county hospital, the police decided to make an attempt to contain and end the outbreak by killing them instead.
Question: It's so obvious that the cop's name tag says R. Olsen, but everyone calls him Winston in both films. Is there a reason for this that I'm missing, or is it a mistake?
Answer: It shows "W. Olsen" on the uniform name patch. If you really do see R. Olsen in a specific scene, please provide a timecode.
Answer: They don't know about it. The only resident in town to contract the disease was the hermit. The sheriff even remarks to Deputy Winston on his radio that the kids at the cabin were going on a killing spree and that they had some kind of skin disease, indicating the disease was heretofore unknown to them. It's possible that the hermit's dog was the carrier.
Phaneron ★