[@CAS1006] There is some question as to whether or not The Thing was initially smart.  I personally think that it was.  However, the X have picked up some kind of intelligence like a new toy.  They don't communicate, but they're clearly acting intelligently.  That particular toy is being employed now.  It's why things are so bad.

Still, the idea is that everyone is being given personal quarantine fields to give them some protection from the X.  I've explained to the players that these will lose power as they take damage.  The random blobs can't do anything to them, but the creatures with offensive powers CAN.  The point is to keep the power levels of the personal fields up and the devices themselves unharmed so you don't get infected the next time you have any sort of X contact.

So, a support person who has energy cells to spare and some rechargeable cells that cycle back up to full after a while...can top people off, erect temporary quarantine fields to save their lives, create physical barriers that enemies need to work at to penetrate, shoot insta-crete to stop them for a while.  You'd be in the act of disease prevention more than disease control, basically.

Hope that clears up everything.