Prepping for a pandemic 2

[wheresmymojo]

Second thread on prepping for a potential Coronavirus pandemic...following the latest news and information as well as prepping info.

When quoting estimates like mortality rates, replication rates, incubation periods and similar I try to stick to evidence based, scientific studies and will link to sources (unless already linked to them previously).

Generally speaking I use reputable sources of information like well regarded news outlets for other information and will provide links.

Sometimes I may post things outside of this as 'interesting' or such like. I will always caveat these as to be taken with caution.

As much as possible I am attempting not to link to fake news. It's an evolving picture so may not be 100% successful but if something is later shown to be incorrect I will post a correction.

I saw some masks in Halfords, they sell the ffp3/2. Maybe worth checking.

Not seen anything come out of the supposed government COBRA meeting that Matt Hancock was supposed to be chairing at 16:45 today, discussing coronavirus. Has anyone else?

The main benefit of masks is that you become a lot more self aware of touching your face (which apparently we do on average 23 times per hour). You also can’t pick your nose/suck your fingers (not that I do ☺️) and all other types of behaviours that greatly contribute to spreading germs. The advice is - once it’s on, resist the temptation to touch your face, no matter how itchy. You should also remove them by the loops on the sides, and change them at meal times. So the average person may need 3 a day.

WHO donation of 500,000 masks, announced today, would sustain Hong Kong needs (not wants - that is a bottomless well) for about 4 hours. Talk about a drop in the ocean. Completely insignificant gesture. And Hong Kong has 8 million people, whereas China has 1.4 billion...

A latex mask would be horrendous and, I would guess, possibly dangerous . Surgical masks have a liner on the inside face that absorbS moisture from breathing. A latex mask would just condensate and I suspect after a few days/hours you’d end up with sores.

Better use your gimp masks for other pursuits ...

When watching sky news an hour or so ago it sounded like the COBRA meeting was still in progress. I keep checking BBC site but nothing yet...

www.echolive.ie/corknews/Coronavirus-fears-at-Cork-University-Hospital-Young-male-is-put-in-isolation-after-showing-symptoms-of-the-deadly-virus-d50a881f-d786-43d6-9e99-0cdbba02739b-ds possible case in Cork in Ireland

@handsoffisback

I’ll just correct these total inaccuracies for you.

‘Military medics’ have husbands/wives/children & more often than not live away from bases thus meaning they mix every single day with civvys. They shop, go out to restaurants, require the use of schools/churches/nurseries etc thus constantly coming into contact with other people as much as anyone else would.
Yes? Not sure what your point is really? You're calling my musings inaccurate. I wasn't claiming to be accurate by any stretch anyway.
I was talking about a decision that didn't make sense to me and how it made more sense to me to use military bases for various reasons including the security and isolation. At no point did I suggest the medics lived there or didn't have families. I was implying it would make more sense to send them there as a location. And that if there were any units that were away at present that might be better than actually displacing staff living at a hospital already struggling to operate. Which it does.
I was talking about military bases as a location. So the patients quarantined would be isolated there (if it was me making the decisions, it was only my line of thought I was talking about) and it would be a secure place to keep them with less risk of outbreak to the general public purely due to location. In comparison with where they are now.

I mentioned that it would make sense for military medics to look after them if possible. I didn't insinuate that military medics lived on bases. I just said they could look after them. Yes I appreciate they have homes and families, but obviously they would temporarily stay on the base with the quarantined so the situation was as isolated as possible which makes sense to me as it's yards better than doctors and nurses seeing to possible corona cases and then flirting back to a&e to look after somebody's grandad that's had a stroke ect.

Why would ‘NHS specialists’ (what are these?) need to guide them? Army medics/surgeons/doctors are some of the most highly skilled in the world.
I said if needed. So if any help was needed from somebody not military and not willing to quarantine with them, it should be done remotely via FaceTime ect, guiding whoever needed the help with advice. if needed

Military staff are not ‘more often than not’ used to travelling. There are many soldiers that have not seen active service in recent times and many that do not travel further than the mess or cookhouse everyday.
Yes yes
I didn't say that they were all active. I said they were often used to being away. Fully aware lots haven't seen active service for a long time. But I'm sure somewhere within our military there would be a place where it was suitable to house them where maybe people are either away or due to go away. That would be an ideal location as it isn't displacing anybody, especially not core nhs staff.

Please stop talking about things you know nothing about. You clearly have a dim view of the military that they are here to do the dirty work and shit jobs no one else should be exposed to.
Thanks for correcting my inaccuracies going through my post and drawing wild conclusions, twisting things I said and saying I have a dim view of the military and know nothing. I think it says more about you than me. Is everything ok?

The dr I posted the picture of the video about, I know that sounds like a mouthful but I couldn't manage to link it off my phone..

He does a really good job of also explaining his concerns about the vaccines and possibly if people had them and then got another strain of coronavirus, their body may react much more severely to it after having the vaccine.

I know it's a long video but I found it helpful that he explained all of the science behind it really really clearly. He talks about it affecting ace2 receptors and step by step exactly how that happens and how it results in patients passing out. He gets really angry at the end of the video with how it's being covered up.

Interestingly I found elsewhere that Chinese males apparently have a higher number of ace2 receptors naturally. I'm not sure if that's true but if it is, and it's the ace2 receptors that it attacks, it would explain why deaths in China are mainly adult males, and why there are significantly more deaths in China than elsewhere.

Again I do realise that I haven't backed that up with sources, I'm juggling tiny ones at the moment so I'm catching bits of info where I can. But somebody else may be able to verify or remember seeing parts of what I've said? And if that's true it is reassuring in terms of the severity of a possible pandemic.

Screwfix still had masks this evening but we had to check stock levels on about 6 different types of mask or pack size before we found ones in stock.

@ebowai Kung fly haha. Got to laugh

Come on people, let's not argue, the last thread was so good. I promise I won't encourage the use of inappropriate masks, and people can agree to disagree.

The last thread was so interesting, and useful I felt, so hopefully this one will go the same way.

There are lots of threads in AIBU about this topic if anyone fancies a big fight any disagreements. I feel guilty as I have derailed the thread slightly too with the gimp thing, so I shall behave and concentrate on my prepping. Thank for you for cash advice earlier, I will try and get some out of the bank and not spend it instantly
(I added yeast to my cupboard this morning and I am contemplating a bread maker. We go through almost a loaf a day so haven't room to store enough ready made!)

Flu I meant 🤦‍♀️

Re Africa twitter.com/helenbranswell/status/1225092440132071426?s=21 is what I was looking at.

Joking aside, I haven’t purchased masks and I am awful for touching my face but the tiny bit of denial in me is still strong

Still no news from the cobra meeting?

@wellididntseethatcoming if all that is true about the nurse specialists and pharmacists visiting the people in quarantine is true, and looking at the photo of the bus driver etc I have no reason to believe it’s not, then that is truly horrifying. Both for the risk to other staff and patients and the fact that the people in charge think this is how to manage it.

It’s like the start of a horror film where people aren’t seeing the big picture, and the way China is reacting, building the hospitals and shutting down there economy says a lot.

@handsoffisback i wasn't talking rubbish. It was my opinion. Which I'm entitled to and I'll stick with thanks. I understand how it works and I'm ok with my opinion. I'll agree to disagree.

I think the only wild speculation that my post drummed up was your strange comments assumptions about what I think of the military?
Just bizarre.

@MyHairIsSoapy I'm not sure if it's true or not. But one of the videos online that one of the quarantined men posted does show nurses in the background.
There have been accusations on local Facebook pages about how the food has been handled. People say they have seen the meals being taken in on trolleys and then the trolleys have gone back into the main hospital and left.
That's all hearsay and unconfirmed.
But also to say they don't have great standards would be a huge understatement so it's anybodies guess.

I can quite believe their lack of infection control, I’ve seen it as a patient on a ward and most people’s level is shocking.

Did anyone watch that BBC drama a decade or so ago called survivor? I think it got cancelled during the swine flu outbreak. It was about a pandemic that only those immune survived. That alley as stuck with me and when I started low level prepping for brexit, it was more that in the back of my mind.

Older generations don’t get it, as they tend to live off tinned food basing on in laws (mine is all mainly fresh and fridge based so we go shopping several times a week. In laws have cupboards full of tinned stuff and could survive a month and not eat too differently. So they have already done it, but is doing it is deemed weird

wellididntseethatcoming It sounds like there is a lot of upset and anger on the local Facebook groups which is causing some slight unreasonable and wild posts (which, to be fair, sounds exactly like the posts on any local fb group - you should see the current bunfights on mine about parking!)

Things like the food trolleys are very low risk - unless you literally have an infected person directly coughing all over them it won’t transfer the Coronavirus onto then; and so far none of the people in quarantine have tested positive. And as for the medical staff moving between areas, if you think about it logically this happens all the time in general hospital life - there will be medical staff dealing with infectious diseases who will wear the appropriate PPE when working with patients, but then they will take that PPE off and go about the rest of their jobs, and go home to their families via the shop/nursery/school etc.

The PPE for the coach drivers etc has already been explained in a statement as the result of expert advice and a careful risk assessment process. The driver rumoured to have broken the self imposed quarantine is a twat and will likely be subject to disciplinary procedures.

I’m not saying everyone’s doing this perfectly, and I’m not saying there is zero cause for concern; but I also think that people on fb whipping themselves up into a frenzy isn’t helpful, and could in fact cause far more damage than anything the Coronavirus could do.

Daily fail has now picked up on the 24k possible real death toll graphic now... not sure what to believe!
I have some Milton wipes and fluid on its way. Got some dettol as well. Not sure I’m going to bother with masks.
Got extra formula for baby and extra nappies, bottled water but need to get more.
My online shop arrives at the weekend and I’ve got a load of staples, tins, passata etc to use as bases. Plus lentils, pasta, rice for easy meals which I need anyway at the moment due to baby DS. I have a freezer full of meat and chicken, am topping up my store of frozen veg and fruit, and have quite a few Cook ready meals in our second freezer - might order a second batch, as well as premade frozen meals from our local farm shop.

My main issue when I’m prepping isn’t the main part of the meal (ie the meat) but finding things that can go with it.

I need to get some long lasting milk actually as well.

Did a COBRA meeting not happen then? Heard literally nothing!

Re-reading my post, I realise I come across as harsh on those posting their worries - I completely get how people have concerns and if you don’t have the medical or technical knowledge it’s easy to let your imagination run wild.

Thinking about it, there’s probably some learning here in terms of how the communication everything has been handled - if there was more official information available and direct addressing of local concerns from Public Health England; then maybe people wouldn’t need to rely on rumours on social media? Surely most big organisations should have social media managers/teams savvy enough to know there are more than likely going to be local fb groups to post on? Or maybe it’s a failing more of your local councillors and MP? We’ve got a couple of councillors that are really active on our local fb page and are happy to investigate things; and point people towards more “offical” channels when escalation is necessary.

Plus, as PP have said, on a national scale there’s been very little from COBRA sessions etc.

This is soome scary footage from China. It seems to be showing an apartment building being welded shut. With the people inside!
twitter.com/Noahpinion/status/1225237190935842818?s=19

www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/02/06/national/science-health/japan-10-more-coronavirus-cases-quarantined-cruise-ship/ ten MORE cases on Japanese ship, so 20 diagnosed so far.

The article I read about the cruise ship said that only about 10% of the passengers have been tested. So about 200. Only 30 tests have come back so far, and of those, 10 were positiv, ie a third. If that's a reflection. of the rest of the tests then that means another 60 will test positive.