Keep Calm and Carry On.
It has now been 8 days since Patient Zero died. There are 2 cases, both nurses at the hospital, likely exposed before Duncan was diagnosed. The media is still sensationalizing the story (Fear Sells), with more people in the US having died of Enterovirus D68 than have been diagnosed with Ebola. We are not out of the woods yet as one of the nurses took a commercial flight to Cleveland with a slight fever (musta seemed like a good idea at the time). If others have been infected, we'll hear about it in the next couple of weeks.
Meanwhile, in Africa, the spread continues with several thousand ongoing cases and potential for food disruption. Look at that situation rationally and put things into perspective. This outbreak has lasted several months. The nations involved have a population of tens of millions. While the percentage of infected who have died is alarming, the disease is not tearing through metropolitan areas such as Lagos and Accra. As for the food situation, food insecurity in Africa is a chronic problem. A rise in oil price or excess rain causes the same alarm.
It is important to understand that societal collapse is a process, not an event.
It is true that some towns and villages in the afflicted area are in a precarious situation. However, the economics of region is still functioning. Public utilities are operating, where they exist. People are still going to work, doing their thing. Gubmint is still guberning. Religions are still religioning. Sure, there are some instances of people fleeing, but there is no mass exodus from the cities and towns in the area. To flee, there needs to be a destination and resources such as available food and water along the way. Before people leave the home they know and the people they love, the situation needs to be dire. A greater motivator than fear would be unavailable water. People can tolerate anxiety, hunger, disease, storms, and the absence of law. Lack of water compels an exodus. War will drive people out of an area. Before an entire society of people are forced to become refugees, a long chain of insurmountable problems has to occur. Even then, it is more likely for people to change their living standards if food and water is available close by than to relocate. The nature of society is adaptation.
Daniel Morse wrote:What do we do to protect ourselves?
Isolation is the first step. Flights and travel out of the affected African nations are still in progress, and there is considerable momentum in the direction of closing the borders. Many world nations have already blocked entry from the affected areas. I am of the opinion the US can and should prohibit entry of individuals from these area.
For the cases in the US: treat, monitor, and quarantine. There are currently 2 active cases. We need to be prudent in these cases.
At the personal level, fear would be irrational at this stage. However, it is human nature to
experience anxiety. Redirect that anxiety in a manner that will be of benefit in the event the situation devolves over the next few months. Conduct a drill. Load up the vehicle with your bug out bag, food and supplies and head for your emergency
shelter. See to it things are in place and you can get by for a while. Better to discover shortfalls in your evacuation plan now, while you have a chance to make adjustments. If you have no emergency shelter, turn off the grid power and public water at home and see how long you can stand it.
Test your limits.
A few years ago I tried getting by while limiting myself to 5 gallons of water use per day. Drinking and cooking was no problem. I could clean myself up reasonably. Laundry and dishes proved to be a challenge. The toilet was right out.
Back in '06 a tree fell on my house. This proved the be a valuable test. I lived in a camper in my driveway for a year. I was able to hook up water, but not the sewer. I had 15 amps of electricity available from an extension cord to my neighbor's house. I still had the use of the house, along with the bathroom, but there was no
hot water. The gas was shut off. There was not
enough electricity to operate the big fridge. There was no air conditioning and not much heating available. Forget about the clothes
dryer. If I wanted to use the microwave
oven I had to turn off the
coffee machine. If I wanted to use the space heater, I could run perhaps a light and a laptop at the same time. In my search for solutions to my problems I tried all sorts of peculiar things. Instead of heating the
greenhouse with coiled tubing in the sun, I redirected it to the
hot water supply in the house. I ended up with all the hot water I could stand (in the daytime) and it was FREE. Cooking was easy-propane camp stove. I bought a small fridge. Since space heating was limited, I hung a blanket to limit the space needing to be heated. Washing dishes was eliminated with disposable dishes. Being a bachelor, this is still a good idea for my particular case.
Hardship, be it self-imposed or thrust upon me,
led me to continue to search for alternative methods of living. Interestingly, this led me to Permies.com.