Prepping for Pandemic... 14

[FuckThisWind]

OK folks, we have been prepping for a Pandemic for 13 threads now. And a Pandemic we now have.

I think we all know this has gone beyond prepping now. And most of us agree that the UK Government has not really stepped up to the mark. We have had shared advice here from our Italian residents and those in other countries who have taken much more stringent measures.

So this thread continues to be about us being prepared. But it is more than that. It is about support, sharing of information and advice. It is now a community. A community who acknowledged a long time ago that this was always 'Not Just The Flu'

I thank you one and all for being here. We have tough times ahead. But we are all still here. Please share, rant, whatever. The great thing about these threads is that they have always been supportive and non judgemental. I like to think it's a safe space for all of us who are concerned. And trying to do our best. For ourselves. For our loved ones. And for our community and beyond.

It's worth thinking about things you can do where you can still have social contact but not spread anything.

For example we have agreed with PILs who are in their 70s that we will see them during the peak months but only on nice days where we can all go into the garden (you don't have to walk through their house to get into the garden).

We will take our own food and drink and sit outside 2 meters away from them and take all our stuff back away with us.

How worried are people about looting/riots? I am keeping my 2 weeks emergency food supply in a plastic box in my shed. Side access to my garden is locked and high but my shed doesn’t have a lock - should I try and get a handy man in to secure it? Or am I over thinking?

I’ve made sure I have two weeks food for if I get the virus. But today I also found myself prepping to make sure I have food I can eat shoyld there be a power cut - I think this is my history of anxiety talking surely and not a reality?!

Does anyone know how to bake no-egg sugar biscuits for fondant icing biscuits please? Trying to keep dd busy

We’re meant to have w family holiday to Devon over Easter and have been told we can cancel for a full refund. I’m not sure what to do but I think cancelling might be best. There’s 12 of us going and I said to my mum is one of us feels ill then all of us will then spend the entire week inside together and she said “well we can still go to the beach” 🤦🏻‍♀️

Haven't caught up yet but just saw 21 deaths? That's a jump! How awful. Those poor people and their families.

I'm actually feeling a bit numb. It was always going to be awful but knowing the rest of the world is taking action to limit the damage and protect lives, whilst the UK does nothing is horrifying. I can't quite believe this is real.

Someone yesterday mentioned Jürgen Klopp's message to Liverpool fans. I looked it up. What lovely statement. He values all lives unlike Boris.

How is Germany doing? I know they seemed to be faring better than other places.

Personally I would cancel the Devon holiday.

The infrastructure in Cornwall and Devon isn't great and I think their communities could really do without a lot of people descending on them from all over the country possibly creating a hotspot and overwhelming their hospitals which aren't set up to cope with lots and lots of seriously ill tourists.

I'm not worried about power cuts or water cuts. Keeping the utilities running will be a top priority and the utilities companies have (a) a lot of automation built in and (b) seriously good prep for this kind of thing.

Thanks so much for the reassurances about the oximeter. I’ll give it another try today and listen to her heart rate myself too.
I’m really pleased that my 85 year old gran with multiple health issues has agreed to let me order her groceries online. Bless her, she’s been wandering about the shops as usual, believing that the government have her best interests at heart but I’ve managed to convince her otherwise and she’s going to isolate as much as possible.
And so I have a question about online shopping, if anyone can help would be ever so grateful. I’ve already put an order through myself. Can I do another one for gran on my account? Or do I need to set up a separate account for her? I’d need to link it to my own email address though so I’m not sure I could do separate accounts?

@Sprayitall Do you have any chia or flax seeds? Mix with with water to a gloopy consistency. I've made some nice cakes and biscuits using that instead of egg.

@colouringinpro I'm using alcohol wipes on things like TV remotes and mobile phones.

I get my meds delivered but I'm speaking to my GP next week to request an early repeat. I don't want to risk any delays.

@tryingtoprep I don’t have chia or flax seeds. will adding a little baking powder help??

@pancakefiend, can't remember with other companies, but you can have deliveries to multiple families on an ocado account. I'm doing so for my parents & PIL. I can use their credit card details for payments too.

Shocking figures today. Especially the number of deaths. But what I think is more important than the actual figure is the % of daily tests positive, which over the last few days is a steady just short of 7%, shows that the increase is not just because they are carrying out more tests.

Is anyone else finding it hard to hear that those who have sadly died ‘have underlying health conditions’ or ‘were in the high risk groups’, we all have parents/grandparents etc in these high risk groups. I feel there is narrative forming that these people don’t matter as much. Almost like ‘don’t worry, your kids won’t get sick and you probably won’t’ so let’s just carry on letting the vulnerable and elderly die until the virus burns out. It makes me terribly sad!

I have no concerns about power generation or water supplies. DH works in power generation. They’re all well prepared, fully planned skeleton staff, systems in place for closed sites etc. And water well... I live in the wettest part of the uk and can collect rainwater if needs be!

We’ve just been discussing our planned summer holiday to the Med. for a cruise. Going to rearrange for next year, as the company are offering this to all guests. We saved up for it for four years! Have to try VERY hard to keep the saved spending money for when we can go.

We are just living on fresh food now, doing small top ups as and when. I leave for work at 6am so went in this week while shops are quiet. Thankfully it’s still pretty cold so things are ok in my boot during the day. We will break in to the stores once we are isolating (by choice or direction) and run out of fresh.

I’ve spent the day cataloging the freezer and stores in to a logical system that isn’t just in my head. Got a few weeks of meals planned out, have written it all down in case I’m out of action. Thankfully, DH can cook, but he’d look at the stuff and struggle with ideas on how to put it together. I feel much calmer now.

This evening I’m going to have a play on google classroom so that I’m “ready” once the schools are closed to try and do something with my exam classes.

I'm still trying to catch up with the thread so I don't know if this has already been mentioned but when my potatoes start to sprout I peel and boil them and turn into mash, put the mash into seal able food bags and freeze. They can be squashed in to any space in the freezer.

I am stressed today. Was going to see my mum 80 miles away but forgot my teen had a haircut booked!

My teen is being a twat because his wardrobe fell apart so he threw his sisters clothes nicely folded on a bookshelf ( 6 people three bed house so I put some of her bits in baskets on a low shelf so she can grab them and dress herself) all over my bedroom floor. Dh was shouting because dd5 wouldn't wash her hands.

When I get stressed he seems to suck up my stress rather than try to calm people down or share my load. I just lost my shit and shouted at dh and my teen.

Then I locked myself in the loo and cried for my mum. I have a big bag of essentials for her and the same for her neighbour. I'm giving away my wipes, my hand gels, my disinfectant, my nitrile glove for two people I fear will die.

Yet I'm surrounded by insular twats under my roof. Dh hasn't once said hes scared for his dad who is 70 or his step mum.

I can only take on the mental load for my mum and her neighbour who watched me and my sister as very young kids when my dad had a brain haemorrhage and my mum visited him for a year.

Theres no spare hand gel for his parents or wipes or disinfectant as it's me who prepped for the last few months. Worrying about my loved ones while he can carry on knowing I will do the " adulting " for everyone.

I'm disappointed

Applesauce or mashed banana can be used as egg substitute. Or are you looking for a shortbready recipe that wouldn't have egg in it already? BBC food website usually has basic recipes.

I'm sorry, Lego, that sounds so difficult.

@Originalyellowbelly good tip thanks. I really need to turn my dodgy potatoes into a Bombay potatoes. Will do that now I think!

A spark of hope from the Dutch amongst all the horror stories: innovationorigins.com/dutch-researchers-find-corona-virus-antibody/

@Nofoolfornoone I've mentioned this to colleagues and dh a few times. I'm wondering if there will be civil unrest / riots. When the riots happened a few years ago, that was really scary and I'm not sure how I would protect our home / preps.

@Sprayitall haven't tried but I've seen recipes with just baking powder. It's worth a go.

@Lego I'm sorry. It's hard carrying the mental load alone whilst those around us are in denial or expecting us to do it all. You're not alone. DP refuses to discuss it. I'm so worried about my elderly relatives who are only now beginning to take it seriously. They insisted on going to busy shops and refused to let me do them an online shop. Thankfully they've finally agreed. I hope you manage some stress relieving time. A bit of time on your own however brief. A short walk outside or a soak in the bath perhaps.

@MrsWhites If I hear "elderly" or "underlying conditions" one more time...It's nasty and definitely trying to minimalise the danger. Saying those of us with underlying conditions or who are older don't matter. It also encourages complacency in some, which puts us all at greater risk.

A TIMELINE OF WHAT ITALY DID (and wasn't enough) dates are approx, cases are rounded

twitter.com/dellannaluca/status/1238650771995889664?s=21

D0 - 21 Feb - 20 cases - We notice the outbreak

D2 - 23 Feb - 150 cases - Closed schools, 11 cities in quarantine

D10 - 1 Mar - 1700 cases - First hospitals saturated

D11 - 2 Mar - 2040 cases – 10% of Lombardy doctors are sick or in isolation

D17 - 8 Mar - 7400 cases - Lombardy + 14 provinces in lockdown, 12M people affected, first reports of patients who cannot get care, jail riots

D19 - 10 Mar - 10150 cases - All Italy in lockdown

D21 - 12 Mar - 15000 cases - Most retail shops closed in all of Italy, enforced isolation, army given police powers.

Things go fast, we've always been one step behind, it cost us so much.

Unless your country beats this timeline, it'll end up the same.

Well we've already got almost D10 numbers- I suppose a positive is that the hospitals are coping at this stage in the UK?

@Sprayitall re the slugs, DH dries out eggshells and crushes them then sprinkles over the soil on the top of the pot. Need replenishing if washed away by rain, but quite effective and free. He dried them in the oven, crushed them by hand then in the blender. We used to get through a lot of eggs and haven't done any gardening for years, there's a tub in my living room with about 5kg of crushed eggshells in that I'm not allowed to get rid of

All business as usual here today, though DD didn't go to her usual activity as she had a stomach upset. DS1 went off on his DofE bronze trip (I slipped a mini hand gel into his pocket lol but he's safer out in the fresh air) and DS2 went to the gym, but they all used the sanitiser before and after. Making the most of being able to do stuff as I fully expect significant disruption by the end of next week. I've been doing a bit of housework but mostly reading these threads and the news, I realised I've spent hours a day on Covid19 since the end of January. My house has suffered... I'm not so worried about bleaching my house though, if the virus was in here we'd have it. Washing hands when getting home and washing clothes more often is about it for me. My prep isn't so much about us not getting is as it is about avoiding the rest of society while it all goes to shit. I am a nurse so I'm going to get it and DCs likely will too. DH is determined he won't, even if we get ill. We shall see... I hope he doesn't, he annoys me when he's ill!

Got a message from a relative asking me to pop in and see my step-grandparents and give them advice. Apparently relative struggled to get the message across by phone, regarding handwashing and isolation. So I shall do that in the week, but they were too stubborn to accept a social care assessment when they really need help so not sure they will listen. I must try though as they are both very high risk. I can at least drop supplies off, but given my job I do worry I'd be more likely to infect them than anyone else they know!