Preparation with Coronavirus on the verge of Pandemic

Preparation with Coronavirus on the verge of Pandemic

Pandemic can be an intimidating word. By definition “(of a disease) prevalent over a whole country or the world”. Pandemics are something that come up over and over again when filing through people’s doomsday scenarios. Well what we are witnessing right now “could” be the beginning of just that. Now the word pandemic describes how widespread and rapidly a disease or illness is spread not its level of deadliness but watching this epidemic grow and spread should get your attention. There have been approximately 2,362 deaths worldwide and 77,930 people infected according to news sources. 21,290 people have successfully recovered from the virus. It has been reported in 32 countries however most of these cases have all been located in mainland China. Symptoms of the illness include cough, fever, and shortness of breath. This can make it hard to diagnose as the symptoms don’t appear much different then a common cold, being spread in the same manner as the cold or the flu. I’m going to keep my eye on this one as I suggest you do the same.

First and foremost, let’s talk prevention. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I may sound like your grade schoolteacher but it’s important. It’s already cold and flu season where I live and its best to use good everyday hygiene habits to limit the spread of germs and spread of infection.

Wash your hands with soap and water often.

Avoid touching your eyes, nose, or mouth.

Avoid close contact with people who are sick.

If you are sick keep your distance from other people to avoid getting them sick.

Cover your mouth and nose when coughing or sneezing.

Practice other good health habits. Get plenty of sleep, be physically active, manage your stress, drink plenty of fluids, and eat nutritious food.This is important for everyday life not just in the face of widespread illness.

Now, if you think your going to be able to walk out and pickup supplies when an outbreak hits close to home you are mistaken. Being prepared means having supplies or tools readily available not running out at 5am fighting your neighbors for the last bottle of water at your local grocery store. In the case of a pandemic the items listed below can be the difference between your survival or demise.

Soaps, sanitizers, and disinfectants.

Chemical liquids or wipes that can destroy bacteria, viruses, and fungi.

Anti-septic’s

Anti-septic wipes to disinfect skin

Gloves

Nitrile exam gloves. In case you must care for or be around someone sick.

Antiviral Mask

Stops the spread of infectious disease by blocking the face. These will also remind you to not touch your eyes, nose, and mouth.

Goggles

Blocks contaminated droplets from entering the eyes.

Drop cloths and duct tape

In the case you need to create a quarantine zone

Medicine

Stock up on the essentials, pain relief, fever reducers, anti-diarrhea medication, cough suppressants. These items could be hard to find in the face of a pandemic.

Trash bags

These will have to double as a biohazard bag. While not as secure they have more uses. If you have the resource, I highly suggest you have both on hand but in a pinch trash bags will get you through use these to dispose of potentially contaminated materials.

Tissues

Avoid wiping on other things avoid cross contamination.

Laundry sanitizer

These specialized detergents will sterilize your clothing.

Water filtration

In the face of an epidemic or pandemic you may not have access to clean drinkable water or water cold be the source of a contamination. In the case that you stored water supply runs out you need water to treat water for consumption.

Electrolytes

There are many powders you can store for long periods of time to help restore your electrolytes.

We have given you a short supply list of items to store at your home to help you with situations like this. Always remember an outbreak could get to a point where people aren’t going to work and the infrastructure itself starts to decline, the availability of food and cleaning supplies will suffer. You should always keep two weeks’ worth of food, water, and essential hygiene supplies stored away for you and your family. This is going to allow you to stay home from work keep your kids home from school and stay healthy which is what you need to do in an area or time of extreme outbreak. At a certain point you could expect disruptions in power and regular trash/waste removal so have a plan in place weather your prepared to heat and or cook with wood or you store enough fuel and a generator to keep the lights on which in itself could draw attention from the less prepared. Find a good safe place for waste removal to not contaminate your living area. Its always great to help people in need but in uncertain times you need to remember your family and your own life are the most important and you want to do whatever it takes to ensure their and your survival. Otherwise you won’t have the ability to help anyone in need when the storm blows over. Its never a bad plan to keep an extra emergency supply offsite in a less populated area in the event you must leave or bug out of your current location.

In the case of the Coronavirus its promising to see so many people recovering from the sickness. With international efforts to stop the spread of this it will hopefully be contained, and the situation stabilized soon.

What are you doing to prepare? Leave a comment below