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 went to Costco today and bought a sack of rice. I'm still trying to add to my painkillers as and when ever I see ibuprofen and paracetamol. More and more over the last six months or so they always seem to be sold out in my local supermarket. I have enough food for a month so I think 4-6 weeks would be enough for all of us if we was stuck in with this. I'm assuming the UK would never do a lockdown. Where I live we have no police anyway but it only takes panic buyers two hours to strip the shops bare if snow is suspected.

The next few weeks will tell, but I think it's going to start clusters here soon. Its bound to be more than a few dozen by March.

Hmm, I was happily reassuring teenage DD that she would be fine (and still has to go to school for the foreseeable future) because all of the deaths so far have been in older people... when I realised that I'm not far off that age group myself.

I'm not a big prepper (last time I bought emergency bottles of water, the lazy kids used them because they couldn't be bothered re-filling their reusable bottles ) but have started getting a few bits now.

If there was a bad pandemic, would we still have water/electricity? I think most of these systems are automatic now, so if people were off sick would they still function? And if not, should we be buying food which doesn't need cooking?

WHO are becoming clearer about the risk of pandemic

Full tweets here: twitter.com/drtedros/status/1226599481535291393?s=21

Personally I'm not concerned about losing electricity or water. The mortality rate isn't high enough to cause that level of societal breakdown.

I'm just planning to be able to lay low for a few weeks and/or limit my exposure to the masses for a while and/or for potential panic buying during any outbreak and/or to be ill at home and self-treat.

Our water is due to go off for 24 hours this week due to essential maintenance and it’s nice not to have to worry because I already have a stash of bottled water.

I have an online shop coming Tuesday as well to keep us fully stocked up - we can just add fresh to it or, if things did get bad, supplement with tinned and frozen.

My health anxiety has started up again since the media frenzy on this - it occurred to me today that even people packing the online shop could spread the virus etc - but then I had to remind myself that that would be the case for flu etc as well so I’ve calmed down a bit now.
I will feel better once the shop has arrived and I’ve got it all organised, I’m pleased I have all the wipes and nappies etc for DS.
I might order some extra cold and flu meds and make sure I have enough meds in for DS Incase people start buying everything up if more cases crop up - I noticed you can’t get Milton products for love nor money in my local shops at the moment

Just had my receipt for this morning's Ocado and as suspected, all antibacterial gel I ordered (only 3!) is out of stock. Going to have to try the local supermarkets. Pleased I got all my tinned goods though.

Landed in Heathrow last night and a notable absence of masks etc in the airport, although quite a few on the plane and loads of folk wearing them in Dubai airport. I'm currently on mat leave at the moment and so don't go out and about that much at the moment anyway but I just did a little tally of how many people we could or would come into contact with and spread a virus to in the unlikely event we did have it -- it's a fair few over a two week period including my parents in the their late 60s.

There is surely no possibility that nCov is not already circulating in the country given the flights that have come in over the past two weeks and the virus' long incubation period. This is surely only the tip of the iceberg and we'll start to see more cases cropping up daily now. Think we'll hunker down for the next couple of weeks, but DH will still be going to work (including a planned work trip to the Netherlands next week - although I'd love him to cancel that really)

There's another 60 cases on the Diamond Princess, 130 in total now.

Is there evidence that the ‘deaths are all older people’ thing is true? The whistleblower doctor who died was young.

Face masks to wear or not to wear.
Regarding face masks I've seen something online saying they can do more harm than good by wearing a face mask for more than 24 hours can lead to bacteria build up inside the mask which you breathe in.
As no one is going to have a unlimited supply of them I was wondering if I sprayed dettol aerosol spray on them then this would lessen the risks of masks doing more harm than good?

If you love in the uk are you contemplating wearing a mask 24/7?

I'm not wearing one now but more for if it spreads rapidly over here

@CrapTVAddict coat them in salt! www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.businessinsider.com/mask-coated-in-salt-neutralizes-viruses-like-coronavirus-2020-2%3famp

"Coronavirus 'imminent threat' to public health" according to Matt Hancock. news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-serious-and-imminent-threat-to-british-public-health-secretary-11930575

Not sure what this statement means in real terms, as the GOV.uk page still has the risk to the public as moderate and the risk to individuals as low.

They could really do with sorting their language out. Is it low risk, moderate risk or a serious and imminent threat??

Yes

"The UK government has declared coronavirus a "serious and imminent threat" to public health."

Breaking news headline on the BBC

UK gov has declared NCP a serious and imminent threat to public health, which gives them extra powers to deal with it. Maybe we'll start seeing a bit more prepping at work now, I'm definitely going to ask about masks today!
Food shop this afternoon, will stock up as much as I can. I can't avoid the virus but at least I can keep the family comfortable.

The UK government has just announced that the virus is "a serious and imminent threat to public health". Apparently that gives more powers to take action.

Talk about closing the stable doors after the horse has bolted.

Just seen the BBC news headlines. I'm going to see if I can get some more pasta sauces and calpol today during my wanderings. I wonder when the shelves will empty out?

CrapTVAddict I’m not going to wear one yet; and when I do I envisage myself only wearing one while outside (nipping to shops, going into the office to grab my laptop for home working etc). And then I won’t wear one while asleep. So I’m not worried about the bacteria building up or anything.

My strategy if it all goes to shit definitely centres around self isolating as much as possible, not trying to go about my normal life while wearing a mask.

I’m not prepping for widespread loss of utilities specifically due to the Coronavirus, but I do prep in general for loss of utilities so I’d be covered there for a bit. I still prep a lot of things that require water/heating though (pasta, rice etc).

I’m pleased the government have increased the threat level, this means more resources can be devoted to it and bigger more joined up plans can be put in place.

I do wonder if this is going to kick off a bit of panic buying though?

It also looks like it enacts some sort of law legally allowing people to be detained to prevent spread? For most medical conditions if a patient wants to leave, there’s no real way of forcing them to stay...

Here we go then.

There seems little point in masks unless supplies large enough to provide people with plenty magically materialise.

We have the grand total of two masks and my husband commutes on the tube so they'd last one day. I think we'll put them aside to be worn for a trip to hospital if that became necessary for any reason.

I think it will cause a bit of panic buying too. So glad I have my stash!

Human psychology is interesting isn't it. I always watch movies and think "they're idiots - why on earth didn't they just shut themselves in immediately the warnings went out?" But the reality of life is that you have to carry on.

Ive texted DH and asked him to pick up additional cold and flu relief tablets. I shall also be emailing to school to ask about contingency plans. Not sure what else I can do. I work from home. DH could to a large extent if absolutely necessary. DC in private school and so if we got to the point where we didn't send them in then nobody is going to be on our backs. But, the reality is you don't shut yourself away, you just carry on largely as normal.

The horse might have bolted, but it’s still
In the yard - so shutting the yard gate is still worthwhile...however, in reality, what does that actually look like?

They can’t justify (let alone actually enforce) a Wuhan style lockdown and I can’t see anything doing much good.

I suppose closing all boarders except to
UK residents and providing isolation facilities to those entering the country (but only those already out if the country, anyone leaving after the cut off date has to stay out unless there’s a very good reason for their trip (dying family member etc). Is the best we could do - but they won’t

Other than that I don’t think there’s much that can be done.