Corona virus (covid-19) prepping

Is anyone doing any special prepping for Corona virus?  I usually have a few weeks worth of canned food in case of an ice storm or other local disaster. I was pretty incapacitated by two surgeries last year, so I didn’t do much shopping. Cabinets were getting pretty empty. It seems like the virus could get pretty bad, and it might be good to not have to go out much during the worst of it. I’ve been stocking up on canned soup, tuna, salmon, beans, ravioli, chili, and some vegetables. I think I have enough for a couple weeks. I have some dehydrated food in case of a longer term situation,  but I want some supplies that don't need any preparation and are closer to my usual diet. I also bought a couple big packages of toilet paper and paper towels.

I bought most of it from Amazon Pantry.  You get discounts if you buy more than 10 or 15 items. I think its a little cheaper than a local store. It was great for shopping for such a wide range of items, and they deliver. Also, I really hate shopping.

I looked for some masks. I found some that were 10  for 770.00, so I gave up on that idea.

I need to buy a battery powered radio. I plan to have some water stored. Does anyone have suggestions?

I have a nice radio that had a hand crank as well  s being able to be plugged in our just run off the battery. I'm not home now, but I can check the model layer. I'm happy with it.

As far as other supplies, i didn't really stock much extra. Basic medical supplies like aspirin, ibuprofen, vitamins.  I try to keep a few months food all the time, so i just topped up a few things i was low on. Honestly, even self quarantine shouldn't need more than a month or two of food, and that's plenty for normal things  like power outages.

A water distillery or another source of good water is always important.

Food, medicine and cleaning supplies....30 days worth is the CDC recommendation.  I'm looking to meet that with the idea of my whole household becoming sick, so appropriate drinks and easy to hold down foods are high on the list.  Supply chains are under major strain or are broken, so having items on hand is important and they are specifically saying you should make sure you have 30 days of any needed prescription drugs as well as laundry detergent.

Here's a thread you might also be interested in: Surviving severe respiratory disease at home during a badly disruptive pandemic: my shopping list

I'm gathering supplies and beginning to implement a cleaning routine at my dad's house.  If the virus is at large in the city, it's almost certain it will enter the house, because we have caregivers coming and going.  I'm weighing the possibility of needing to quarantine at my dad's house and cancel the other caregivers but I don't want to panic prematurely (I suffer from anxiety and paranoia, so just because I am afraid of something doesn't make in an actual emergency).

I'm not sure I will be capable of making an appropriate decision.  

I'm fairly close to the infection zone that is spreading here in Italy, and the publics' reaction to it is very mixed.
Some meet it with mock, others fear, others indifference or non-belief. Hand sanitizer has sold out in most shops, but other than that not many people seem to be stocking up.
I haven't seen people with mouth masks yet, and everyone seems to be going about his day as usual. A lot of people seem to believe the situation is less grave than the media makes it out.
Due to my job being at home, I don't have to go out much, regardless, so I'm just doing my groceries once a week while avoiding standing too close to other people and washing my hands and face thoroughly afterwards.
I have stocked up in food, but the kind of food that I would eat anyway if the situation turns out to be less grave than it looks: lots of dry stuff like beans, rice, lentils, chickpeas that preserve well and are close to my daily diet anyway. I also bought a ton of fresh veggies and chopped them up to put in the freezer (we could eat soup with fresh veggies daily for 2 weeks). Next to that we bought lots of canned tomatoes and meat to put in the freezer. We could probably last a month if I stretched the food to the max.
But mostly we just have been doing everything we can to boost our immune. Eating lots of fruits and veggies, drinking lots of herbal teas, sleeping well, taking vitamin supplements and propolis etc.
Let's hope that's enough.

Here, in UK, the virus cases have recently escalated e.g. 13 new cases just yesterday!  Yikes!

I have started to get some extra supplies e.g. tins of food, toilet rolls, tissues, cleaning stuff - even managed to buy a FFP3 mask (at a hiked up price).  I have since learnt that they are only designed for 8 hour use and mostly for one session so will save it for an emergency (possibly a crowd situation).

In the past few days I've noticed that the frozen food cabinets in local supermarkets are empty!  Clearly panic buying....all those frozen pizzas, yuk!  At least vegetarians and vegans are better off in this scenario e.g. food staples like grains and pulses.

It's scary not knowing how long the virus will take hold/last e.g. re. availability of supplies of food etc.  I heard a health spokesman say that, after its peak, all being well (i.e. that we are suitably cautious/sensible) it could take 2-3 months to subside!  😮

I'd like to say for the first time in my life, I've stocked up with a couple of month's food supply.  A 50 lb bag of white rice, 30 lbs of mixed dry beans, 10 lbs of oatmeal, and a dozen or so boxes of whole wheat pasta.  All very cheap, and it's food I normally eat anyway, but I've never had so much on hand before (normally I'd buy organic brown rice, but that costs about five times as much as the white rice).

I have municipal tap water that I don't mind drinking, and I don't foresee that being shut off, so no water storage.  I do have the capability to capture 100 gallons off the roof in barrels, but it doesn't rain here very often.

I'm not a fan of taking pills or supplements, so I don't have anything stocked medically.  I do have a full bottle of Ibuprofen.  Also have basic first aid, but always have had that.

I also stocked up on three months worth of commercial chicken food.  I normally have a couple of month's on hand, but I admit to buying an extra couple of bags this last week.  My chickens lay on average about six or seven eggs per day this time of year.  

I also have planted out hundreds of leafy greens in the garden (not for preparation, but it's nice to know it's there).  In a few weeks, I'll be able to have fresh greens everyday.  I'll plant more things as it gets warmer out.

I also bought one extra bag of dog food.  My dogs each eat two eggs per day with a cup of dry dog food, so the two bags I have will last a while.  I also be mixing in white rice with it to extend it even further.

I am a very healthy individual, but when I do get sick my respiratory system takes it hard (I've had chronic bronchitis since I was a child).  So, although it seems like it shouldn't be something I need to worry about....I might be higher risk than average?  

I'm going to try to use this as an excuse not to drink so much beer as well.  It's tough though because I am home alone all day (nor currently working), and drinking beer is one of my favourite hobbies besides gardening!

:)

I think I will plan as though my family will eventually get sick.  I can't see realistically how to avoid it since we can't avoid other people and can't control their behavior.  So I need to have plenty of easy to make food available (soup mostly).  The real challenge is how to manage two households, my dad's house in town and our place in the country.  Because we have pets at both houses, we can't all just quarantine at one place.

Joshua Bertram wrote:
I'm going to try to use this as an excuse not to drink so much beer as well.  It's tough though because I am home alone all day (nor currently working), and drinking beer is one of my favourite hobbies besides gardening!

That's probably a good idea! My husband and I usually like to end the day with a cocktail (our unhealthy little sin), but we've closed the bar for a bit until this things blows over.

I'm a contrarian.  I'd like to get exposed and get it over with.  Then I could be available to help with nursing as needed.

Ruth Meyers wrote:I'm a contrarian.  I'd like to get exposed and get it over with.  Then I could be available to help with nursing as needed.

That's an interesting angle.
But what if your body doesn't manage to fight the disease? And how would you quarantine yourself in the meantime while you fight the disease until it is no longer contagious?
I'm all for making your immune system stronger by exposing yourself. But I'm not for potentially exposing the viruses to people who aren't capable of fighting it off themselves due to their compromised immune system.

I'm not in a high risk category besides my age; and a lot healthier than some younger than myself.  I would expect to be able to self-care at home.  There was once that I was laid out (near incapacitated) for a week with something viral.  I had two small children at home and we managed adequately, with a church friend dropping off a few meals.

Since it's probably not practicable, I haven't thought much along the details line.  But I am on the local Health Department list of disaster responders.  Not that they've ever done much with it.
I certainly would be surprised if they started asking for volunteers to become infected, eh?

Ruth Meyers wrote:I'm a contrarian.  I'd like to get exposed and get it over with.  Then I could be available to help with nursing as needed.

I thought about that as a strategy.  The main problem is one can be a carrier without symptoms for days, spreading it around.  So even if we figure we'd be better off catching it, this might not be such a great plan.

Ruth Meyers wrote:I'm a contrarian.  I'd like to get exposed and get it over with.  Then I could be available to help with nursing as needed.

The problem with that is that people are getting the virus, recovering and testing negative, and showing up positive again.  Maybe the test isn't great, or maybe the virus can just continue to reinfect you.  That would give me pause.

I cannot speak for the test being used, but all the tests I can think up have false positives and false negatives.  Shifting this in a little different direction and putting in pretty simplistic wording, I can think of one psychological test where a positive was to be read as a negative.  While this is a pretty simple adjustment to make for a trained person to make, it really can mess with lay people, including the press.  My point being is that it is easy to have good faith misunderstandings.

We're prepared all the time due to power outages and such. We did go through our medicine cabinet and restocked anything getting low or closer to its expiration date. We also double-checked our food stores and restocked those plus extra. It doesn't seem likely that water or power will go out (it didn't in China), but we do have a generator to run the well pump and most of the house (not the dryer or oven though). We've discussed at what point we'll pull our daughter out of school if it comes to it.

Mostly we're concerned about the economic impacts, overtaxed hospitals, and our elders. My mother-in-law is 88, my grandma is 87, and both of my parents have health issues that put them in a higher risk category. We want to minimize our chances of bringing it home to my mother-in-law, who lives with us and is essentially homebound. My sisters don't think they'll be able to contain our grandma, who has a very active social life and enjoys taking the bus everywhere. My parents don't seem to be taking this seriously.

Costco in Eugene, OR had 600 people waiting to get in when it opened on Saturday, as per a Costco employee my husband knows. Normally there are 20 - 30 people waiting. I mentioned to my sisters a couple of days ago to make sure they're stocked up on food and supplies to avoid panic shoppers. It'll probably get worse now that we have our 3rd case - in Eastern Oregon, surprisingly.

I'd get unscented bleach to treat water in bulk and as a cleaning agent. You can also use pool shock but you'll have to research that.  If you can find it, get some anti-biotics.  Fish Moxy is the same thing as Amoxycillin.

I'm a contrarian.  I'd like to get exposed and get it over with.  Then I could be available to help with nursing as needed.

Please be careful with that strategy. Read this the other day..."Covid-19 uses anti-body dependent enhancements to more easily enter cells. What does that mean? It means that if you have been exposed to similar coronaviruses before, Covid-19 will find it easier to infect you a second time. In other words, if you have anti-bodies already, the virus is actually easier to catch and more lethal. If this coronavirus remains in a population for any length of time, re-infections with higher mortality will result."  
COVID-19: The Chinese Coronavirus...Some New Information

In these grim times....this is like a breath of fresh air (virus droplet-free!)

I went out today and bought:
- Last hand sanitizer medium or large bottle on the shelf
-2 purse sized bottles of hand sanitizer
- last 100 pack on the shelf of alcohol prep wipes (convenient hand/surface sanitization, and I can't stand the smell of lysol)
- night time dry cough and fever relief (already have an expectorant)
- Pump rubbing alchohol and a large bottle
- More canned goods
- glycerine (mildly antiviral and glycerine + alcohol = hand sanitizer)


I was kind of in the "rather get it earlier while the hospitals aren't overrun" boat, as I'm mildly immunosurpressed and have a tendency to pneumonia. But then I heard you can get it twice, and the second time can be worse... So on to serious hand sanitizing.

I want to do another big grocery shop, too - I'm low on meat in the freezer.

I tend to have sinus problem in the Spring so I'm making my own kimchi, and stocking up on Apple Cider Vinegar, pounds of local raw honey, and 3 months of meds in addition to toilet tissue, paper towels, pantry staples such as coffee, sugar, canned milk, wine, tequila,etc.  I like to buy my pet food by the month, so I'll get an extra month just in case.  I was going to plant my sprouting potatoes by the 10th if the weather warms up, followed by cold crop greens.  I always wind up with 3+lbs of sprouted potatoes that I neglected to eat from the 5lbs bag ('cause it's cheaper!).  I usually have meat in the freezer so my biggest problem will be making meals out of what is on hand without eating the same thing every day.  Even crab legs get old by day 4...

I have enough projects between my house built in 1908 and the raised bed food forest garden I began in the vacant lot adjacent to my house to keep me occupied for 2 months if I had to stay away from people. The problem then would be pre-paying the bills unless the government forbids the utility companies to shut-off services for non-payment.  As an educator, I have to be in front of bubonic plague infected munchkins daily so I just stay healthy the best way I can and keep my hands clean.

I will admit to frowning every time someone coughs anywhere near me nowadays...

This is an excellent time to see to practice those "survivalist skills" I've been reading about and to see what works for me and what doesn't!

I found the mother lode of alcohol prep pads in my car first aid kit! (honestly, I never use them when I get a cut, just soap and water, and they've been in there for at least 15 years, so they are getting sacrificed to clean the cart at the supermarket).


Hi-five Amy, here is my corona-related contribution (earworm begins at :48.... the subtitles are a bit rough but IT IS CATCHY)
(this is a Vietnamese public service announcement. It is also about 3 minutes longer than it needs to be, IMHO, but this way they can play it on the radio. It apparently is spawning all sorts of cute dance videos.)

joanna Powell wrote:

I will admit to frowning every time someone coughs anywhere near me nowadays...

I recently started watching a series set in NYC. Every time I see them walking through a crowded city sidewalk, I find myself flinching, waiting for someone to cough.

This thing gets inside your head sometimes.

Small detail:  I clipped my fingernails short, ensured that there are no cuticle snags and made sure that I have good soap and a basic hand lotion.  Easy to keep clean, healthy skin with fingertips that are unlikely to aggravate into microtears.

Think about how the grime stays under your nails and in the cracks when you work in the garden or on mechanical things.  That is likely where the germs will lurk

The news says people ate stocking up on essentials like toilet paper.   I'm stocking up on yarn.  

Canada's health minister has recommended stockpiling, and I am taking her advice.

I think I'm 90% ready now. I went out and bought the biggest grocery cart i ever have, as my pantry was pretty bare.  My idea is to have enough stuff in the house so I can comfortably avoid people for 2-3 months at worst, and to have backups of essentials that may be in short supply. I like to shop weekly and have a tiny kitchen so this was a bit of a challenge in terms of finding space.

I've realized that I, like most in North America, have never actually been in a situation where the shelves are bare. If we do have long term shortages - I can imagine rioting.

At minimum, in the coming months, with so many Chinese factories shut down, I anticipate price rises on many products, as they may not be able to get the reagents/constituents needed to make them. I think I'm less reliant on these things than many people, but I still use them. So stuff like dish soap, laundry soap, dishwasher soap, hand cream, toothpaste, plastics, etc. Even the "organic" brands likely use some ingredients sourced from China. Also pantry goods like cocoa, coffee, etc, that I consider essential but are sourced from far away...

I stocked up on this kind of stuff - stuff I normally only buy every 3-6 months, but are likely made in China or are chemically complex. If I'm wrong, and prices don't rise and there aren't shortages? Fine, then I have a bit extra for the next 6 months, chemically stuff doesn't go bad. Oh well.   I also bought a little bit more for my home first aid kit, as I plan on avoiding the hospital for anything less than life threatening conditions!

We've been slowly upping our foodstocks since Jan (after taking loads of effort to eat them down).  I've been seeking out good deals because food costs money.  I know we can survive for many months/years with what we have on the farm and wildcrafting, but I like my luxuries.  Grain and toilet paper is a lot of hard work to grow.

Amazon.ca has Subscribe and Save discounts and many of them are cheaper than buying the item in the shops.  Usually less than half price plus 15% discount.  BUT you have to know your prices.  Some things are triple or more than the price in the shops.  They deliver to the door (mostly) and usually leave it on the front porch without me having to interact with a human.  

Foodwise we're fine.  It's boredom that worries me.  I don't like going more than 10 days trapped in the house, so I want to make sure I have lots to do even if the power goes out (all those electronic bits that keep the grid running have to come from somewhere and if the supply chain is breaking down...)

Ruth Meyers wrote:I'm a contrarian.  I'd like to get exposed and get it over with.  Then I could be available to help with nursing as needed.

This is my perspective as well. I would like to get 'er done and deal with it already.

Today I bought 20 lbs of rice. Most other grains we have five gallon buckets of. I figure rice will be the hardest to get in the near future. I did buy some vitamins a, d and c even though we have not run out. I think we have enough food, herbs etc to stay home for a month. My main concern is if I have enough cough medicine/decongestant/fever reducers as we usually just use herbal teas and remedies for the average cold/flu.

A couple of thoughts to add to this thread.

1.  My concern is the mob-like behavior of the crowd far more than the actual corona virus.  So if this thing goes viral (pardon the pun) you'll want to be able to stay home and be self-sufficient.  If you can stay out of the stores for a month or two, and stay off the streets, you'll be a lot safer from crazy people.  This is why I've stockpiled a bit of extra food in my pantry.  If need be, we can hunker down and spend 2 months without going out.

2.  Even in the event of a massive outbreak, water will still run through the pipes.  If you are on any sort of municipal water system, it's chlorinated and that will kill any microbial activity, including bacteria or a virus.  I don't believe its possible to transmit a virus through water, but I might be mistaken.  Either way, the water that comes out of your tap is safe to drink.  Spending a lot of money to stockpile drinking water doesn't seem like a prudent use of my time or money.

3.  Buy stuff that you normally use.  What good is it to buy 50 cans of Spam if you hate Spam?  If you don't like rice and beans, but you purchase a 50# bag of beans, you'll be set . . . for next year's cover crop.  My hunch is that this thing will blow over soon enough, and in that case, I don't want 20 big cans of powdered cheese sitting in my pantry with me scratching my head wondering what to do.  So only buy stuff you are going to eat.

4.  Starches are easy: rice, pasta, rolled oats popcorn, and other grains.  Proteins are more difficult.  Canned chicken and tuna are readily available.  Canned prepared foods like chili, soups and stews keep for a long time: an undented can that is stored in a cool dry place will easily last 2 years, and upwards to 6.  Canned veggies keep for a long, long time.

5.  The easiest disinfectant is good old soap and hot water.  If you wish to use bleach, that's very effective but it will bleach whatever you touch (your jeans, that new shirt you just bought . . .) so be careful about spraying it around.  

6.  If you have animals, you'll want to stockpile food for them as well.  I just got 2 50# bags of chicken layer feed.  Our small flock will give us about 5 eggs daily, and with summer almost here, i can augment that with greens from the garden and other stuff they like.  

7.  Keep your gas tank filled.  I wouldn't let it get below half a tank.

8.  We've already got most of our garden planted, but I went ahead and planted an additional 50 tomato plants (seeds in starter pots) this week.  If we don't need them, I can give them away or compost them, but should we need them, we're ready.  For additional fast-growing, high calorie plants, I planted summer squash and sweet potatoes.  If you live in a cold region, now is the time to order seeds or pick them up from a nursery or home center.  

9.  Should you get infected and need to hunker-down at home instead of going to a hospital (an extreme scenario, I know), you'll want to have some basic over the counter meds ready.  Acetaminophen, ibuprofen, or naproxen are common for aches and pains.  Like properly stored food, these meds have a long shelf-life is stored in a cool, dry place.  I've heard that for many meds, it's upwards of 15 years ---- far longer than the actual expiration date on the package.  If your house lacks a good thermometer, get one.  

10.  Get out in the sun.  Eat healthy and nutritious food.  Get your exercise.  Healthy people recover much sooner that unhealthy.  In fact, the elderly who are weak are usually the first victims of these kinds of viral diseases.  The best defense is a good offense, so take care of yourself.

random thought

Even in the event of a massive outbreak, water will still run through the pipes.  

where do the chemicals, parts, filters, and electronics come from to maintain safe drinking water?

it will probably still flow, but depending on the municipalities contingency  plan, some cities may have temporary boil water advisories if the supply chain remains broken.  

in canada this week, the government is recommending we keep on hand 2 ltr per adult per day of potable water.

I'm not sure if this is the 'right' thread to share my thoughts. There is construction going on at my apartment complex this week. They contractors are using pressure sprayers for paint, and have no masks on. A couple of these poor guys would cough after a while of painting, it was really sad to see. I can only imagine how many other hard working Americans are out there having to do their daily job without adequate masks because of the mass buying of mask! I read somewhere that the virus can pass through the masks so it only works if the virus is on a larger droplet that can not pass through the filtering ability of the mask.

I live in a very rural area. The nearest town has about 8000 people, so there is a Wal-Mart. I just returned from shopping. Nothing is completely out, but water, toilet paper, disinfectant wipes are all nearly gone. Other things are fairly well stocked but there are far more people shopping than normal.

I'm not really buying anything different than we normally eat, but I am buying more of all the things we normally buy.

Just a sketchy update on the situation here i.e. outerskirts of London, UK.  (I am a member of the friendly nextdoor forum so have input/feedback from my local region too!)

The virus situation has recently escalated in UK and local people have been, predictably, panic buying i.e. of course the hand sanitizers (hard to get), toilet rolls etc. A low blow was that hospitals are having their hand sanitizers stolen!  Unbelievable!  For myself, I have just done one online order getting in slightly more food items than normal but nothing major.  The delivery guy told me people are ordering online like it was xmas and I noticed that when I tried to get a delivery slot for my order, the next few days were fully booked which is very unusual!   I have already obtained a FFP3 face mask (at an exorbitant cost) which I would wear if I get the virus, e.g. if someone attends to my needs.  I also have Sambucol (black elderberry extract formula) to take if I feel the onset coming on.

Being elderly and with a genetic lung condition, I come under a high risk category so have decided to not go to the monthly get together I attend (i.e. Action For Happiness - a growing, global movement!).  Luckily I am a semi recluse (by choice) so already kinda self isolate!  Ha!  I think my immune system must be quite good since I contracted pneumonia 2 years ago (which can be a killer, especially in my age group) but it didn't finish me off!  (I take Omega 3 pure fish oil capsules daily amongst other vitamin/mineral supplements, eat well/quite healthily....just too much of it!  Ha!)

Of course we are all concerned with boosting our immune system.  Apart from looking to nutrition to do this, let's not overlook the value of laughter, i.e. having a sense of humour!  It really decreases stress hormones and increases immune cells and infection-fighting antibodies, thus improving your resistance to disease.  As one comic said...."laughter is the best medicine, unless you are diabetic - then it's insulin!"  🤪