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.

@Dyrne thanks, I'm not panicking - far from it-more thinking out loud about the usefulness or otherwise of masks in general. I suspect if masks became compulsory outside as a pp mentioned, a bit of old t-shirt attached around your ears with knicker elastic probably wouldn't make the grade, but I'd guess would keep droplets out quite satisfactorily, and better than a soggy damp thrice used paper one.

I've ordered some of the screwfix masks to collect this eve and I'm contemplating when to keep my children off school too. That's the biggest thing that's worrying me at the moment.

Glad to hear it Funkycats , and sorry if I seemed patronising - I feel like I have to be Lance Corporal Jones at the moment to “prove” we’re not spreading chaos on here: “DON’T PANIC MR MAINWAIRING!!!”

As for a t shirt mask, I think a crucial part of any pandemic preppers arsenal should be this t-shirt tutorial

Spent a night in A&E recently (Italy) and coughers were made to wear masks.

Made me think about my prep kit.

Need grab bags for emergency hospital admissions - for person going in, for parent accompanying and for other DC who might go to friends.

In terms of emergency supplies, consider some incontinence sheets. If CV is transmissible by faecal matter bagging and binning would be better than handling soiled sheets. They're also handy on top of towels for DC that won't reliably vomit into bowls. Good for any D&V outbreak too. I have packs of tena lady pants too.

Cobra are currently meeting to discuss this. Maybe some more information will be released later.

I can't understand why China would damage their economy like this if it wasn't massively underreported.

I think the virus should be named after the Doctor who was reprimanded for trying to warn fellow medics about it.

Dr. Li Wenliang

Good article here which sums up really well where we are with the virus right now.

www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/02/beast-moving-very-fast-will-new-coronavirus-be-contained-or-go-pandemic

I haven't caught up on this thread yet but have just seen that Bill & Melinda Gates have pledged to donate $100m to the cause.

https://news.yahoo.com/amphtml/gates-foundation-announces-100-million-coronavirus-response-155124270.html?guccounter=1&gucereferrer=aHR0cHM6Ly90LmNvL3loN05rekp3NkQQYW1wPTE&gucereferrerrsig=AQAAALJSGHxb2jd5QhhsO3PPPw2uqMK7dt-nPXlDuQovqJH1QHm99Hne73jXaO5EZfrFTYp-gEEn-h8GYAbFw1ZXAFsOMOSxAVrAwXgGeT4R8vBWVfWzV4eACgGDIqWFF_0Ggo4zQhv7QJr87FLjurU-4xhtAxlk-eyGuyOyfXlSW1

I commented yesterday about not needing grab bags but with the poster commenting about having a grab bag for hospital I have changed my mind. A hospital bag is actually a good idea.

After spending two years nursing my terminally ill husband and having a disabled child, I learned the hard way to always have a grab bag. Don’t forget to pack snacks and drinks. You can easily change them, to keep them fresh. Extra phone charger and money.

Wow...this is worse than most MN threads about in laws...

Oh good grief, Dryne! I’ve made the very silly mistake of putting ‘filtration masks’ into Pinterest. I may be gone some time. 🤓

So I have decided to plan for the possibility that we may either be ill for a couple of weeks or decide to limit our “going out” for a couple of weeks.

I’m not hugely worried at the moment BUT I have 6 children and DH has a greater risk because of and underlying condition - plus I very nearly died of pneumonia as a healthy 30 year old so I am painfully aware that it is a horrible disease!

Anyway I have been looking through these threads and trying to figure out the best things to store - I have extra pasta and pasta sauce that always keep for days when I fail to cook .

I know people have written canned food etc but what meals do you make with that? I normally pick recipes off pintrest or from cookbooks but all of the ones I normally make wouldn’t work in terms of storing food ahead!

The other thing I have done is ordered all of the things we need for our home school the next two months (we already homeschool) so the world can end but my kids will be sitting doing their maths until the end

Making

I have a recipe for chickpea curry, that can be made from all your larder supplies. If you can grow spinach (incredibly easy plant to look after), then it really adds to it.

Cats had managed to eat all of our prepped cat supplies, so have stocked up again. Tbh, I normally buy massive quantities at a time anyway, but this should keep them going for a couple of months! Pic of Dc1 keeping guard.

I happen to be bulk cooking at the minute and have realised that, if this does get serious, I won’t want to buy fresh veg that may be contaminated with coughs and sneezes. Bad enough at the best of times. 🤢 I’ve decide to cook a lot more than usual, after reading this. I can still have my home made curries, soups for a few weeks.

Turns iPad away so neither cat can see the heap of cat food in torthecatlady’s photo and judge me. 😳

@Makinganewthinghappen @T0tallyFuckedUpFamily You can cook spinach and then freeze it in ice cube trays. It would last quite a while I think if you kept it in a box in the freezer.

@T0tallyFuckedUpFamily I forgot to order Dreamies, so I'll need to get some of those on the weekend before I run out or they'll hate me.

Jack Monroe has written a book about making meals with tinned ingredients. I haven't tried it but apparently her tinned peaches, tomatoes and chickpea curry is great!

After reading the last thread I went to my local chemist to get some hand sanitiser. I could only get a small bottle and the shop assistant said they couldn't get the larger bottles from their usual supplier...

Just a small thing, but buying fresh herbs from a garden centre may be a good idea as they are always useful to perk up meals if rations are slim?

@littleswede

We are going skiing in the alps next week which was booked ages ago. I'm worried about risk in travelling too. But on the other hand, if there aren't travel bans, and the designation has similar number of cases compared to the UK, it doesn't feel like there is good reason not to go.

I'm debating whether we should wear a mask on the plane though

Oops destination not designation

T0tallyFuckedUpFamily I managed to grow a load of spinach, but it's all got holes in it as it's been eaten by something! Slugs? Any idea how to stop this?