Today I got a random text message asking me to Google "Wuhan-400" and I went down a rabbit hole of conspiracies, propaganda and other COVID-19 related nonsense. I explained to this person that here in the United States we are "Preppers". We have been prepping for a pandemic crisis since 2014. My mother had stage IV cancer and my grandmother took ill in the same house. I was watching a lot of TV & YouTube in the midst of being a caretaker and I found this genre of videos dedicated to prepping for the day we never want to come - Shit Hitting The Fan/SHTF. I also ran across a lot of fear mongering content around Ebola and H1N1. Now my family was in treatment over an hour away and I facilitated that transportation and support. So I was in and out of medical centers and hospitals daily for months. In the early stages of my mothers cancer and my grandmothers heart issues we had plenty of outside staff who came to our home and educated me. They taught me about being prepared versus reacting to situations as they come. So my mother learned before beginning chemo and radiation that she may become debilitated and need supplies on hand. I would be responsible for maintaining those supply levels as well as keeping the car, our home and any transport as sterile as possible. So of course I found information on my own to assist me in getting things under control. I also began prepping for what if and the resources I created in multiple households got us through many a snow and ice storm, hurricane and other various emergent situations. As for H1N1 and Ebola, we were never affected despite going in and around medical compounds for the better part of a year. And imagine, my families immune systems were all compromised and we were never affected by anything outside of their symptoms and individual prognoses.
We managed by...
- Using medical grade face masks for all outings including shopping or running errands
- Practicing hand washing where faucets were opened and closed with a paper towel
- Washing all home health aids multiple times a day with medical grade soap and hot water
- Using hand sanitizer liberally for situations where soap and water was not available
- Using latex gloves for meal prep, changing linens, bandages and administering meds
- Stockpiling supplies like distilled water, protein supplements, meds and first aid
- Keeping additional supplies of canned goods, boxed long shelf life milk and ice
- Purchasing surplus fuel, bleach, coal and other "doomsday" needs well before SHTF
- Having weather radios, batteries, flashlights, candles and back up resources for SHTF
- Investing in N95+ masks for SHTF
- Keeping the household in a ready state for leaving with little to short notice
We also practiced these habits well beyond their so called advised need and still do to this day. So after watching that mess in Iran, being toyed with by friends in Germany and seeing the warning increase in the U.S. we probably will not change or add much to our routine. However, we want to practice for the what if scenario of being quarantined for two weeks plus or the likelihood I cannot go back to Germany as planned. I want this house to be in a state to provide for all possibilities without panic. So starting today we will be ...
- Cataloging needs based off supplies on-hand and getting whatever we feel is low or out of date
- Setting up a station to sanitize when entering the home
- Clearing a space to remove and wash "outside" clothing when entering home
- Monitoring STEP and other reliable resources for news
- We may also wear N95+ masks if there are any reported cases in and around us (for now there are NO cases on the eastern sideboard besides NYC)
- If I can fly this weekend and next month, I will be doing all of the above to the best of my ability and taking whatever additional precautions as advised
Unfortunately, I know there will be panic because Americans as a whole react to things. We either run out during speculation and exhaust all of our resources early on or we scramble last minute which throws off everything. So I will not take any chances. Tomorrow is when everyone will panic. So the goal for me is to react right now. And in all honesty, because we know all too well from experience how this sort of stuff pans out we bought out a hardware stores masks over three weeks ago. We always have a lot of things on hand because that is who we are. But of course I will go get some additional water, milk, canned goods etc in the middle of the night. Everyone will be asleep and there will be less exposure to people ravaging the shelves. I don't want any part of that. We had snow for all of 17 hours last week and the stores were either obliterated or closed due to obliteration before 1pm. Everyone panicked for just for the snow to melt before dawn.
For weeks I have also not touched my face in public, quickly removed myself from a space where anyone coughed or sneezed and sanitized repeatedly until I had access to soap & water. I have already been washing my hands before and after using a public restroom. I sometimes even do this at home. I have avoided spaces like the public library or large gatherings indoors or outside. I cannot say the same for the everyone else. And not to scare anyone but Karneval/Carnival is happening worldwide right now and there are a lot of people convening in condensed spaces and then traveling back from wherever they came. So that means anyone who was sick, has exposed many people and those people can and will expose others. This is NOT the time for traveling and an absolute non negotiable to rethink all hygienic and safeguarding practices in and outside of your home, school and office. The thought is if there was a high probability of infection during those large gatherings those people may not exhibit symptoms for a few weeks. And when they do they will be everywhere. Hence, people affected in places within the last 24 hours where things seemed okay ... Austria, Sweden, Spain, Iraq etc.
It is happening...
So I would say if you do not need to leave your home, stay at home. If you must go out, practice good habits and be disciplined. Unfortunately, people are not doing the above and if you haven't formed good habits yet it will be very hard to adapt under pressure. Touching your face, not washing your hands, going into spaces when and where exposure can be extreme - these are things you want to avoid at all costs. It is inconvenient in the moment but imagine how one missed step can affect many, many people and could have been prevented using common sense and courtesy. As for the speculation and conspiracies, try to ignore them. There is no folklore in this and it is best to leave the antidotes and idioms for a simpler time. Right now, your priority should be awareness and that should be the only thing spreading if we keep good information in the universe. Inform people that this is NOT the flu although symptoms may be similar. This is the problem -- Too many people are sick at the same time. If some of us just stayed home during incubation periods we might be able to calm the spread. If most people practiced good habits we would have far less people getting sick at the same time. If we can have isolated cases it is way easier to care for those individuals than it is to risk infrastructure for a mass amount of sick people. So it is entirely up to you to decide if you want to stay at home or risk yourself and others. Please I beg you do not do the later. There is no shot for this and whatever they are working on will take months. Free will in democratic countries is different in Communist ran China so you cannot expect other countries to have successful quarantines. Your common disinfection product will list Coronavirus on it so it isn't fluke. Coronavirus has been a thing just like staph or SARS but this is an unknown version hence the ever-changing name - now COVID 2019. There is no clear origin and above all no definite plan on how to combat it so avoiding Asian people, gatherings and businesses is a silly move. Yes, there are governments that have given false information but the reality is no one knows anything.
So please share the tips accessible to all and not fear.
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