Posted on 01/27/2020 5:09:43 AM PST by BobL
Back about a decade ago with the housing meltdown of 2008, followed by our lovely leader for the next 8 years, many of us started thinking about what life would be like after 'it' happened. Thankfully 'it' never happened. But one of our concerns was a pandemic, not just due to the direct suffering it could cause, but the indirect consequences, such as disruption of the food supply and possibly disruption of utilities.
On a disaster scale, I would rate this somewhat in the middle, with hurricanes, earthquakes, and tornadoes being the easiest to deal with, since they're localized, and a large-scale nuclear war being the worst (followed pretty closely by a complete economic meltdown).
But since Trump got elected, I think some of us may have gotten a bit complacent (I certainly did). But now, with many thousands of people still arriving from Asia, and even most of China, and with an identified 'it', perhaps it's time to check our stocks of food, fuel, our water supply plans, and, of course, our Second Amendment compliance status.
Best of luck to all!
I think I will get Acyclovir, it is an anti-viral although I don’t think it works all that well and more antibiotics for secondary infections like pneumonia. Luckily, I live near the border and can just buy them.
Start carrying Lysol wipes as hand cleaners.
God-willing, we will have a short winter and flu season will be over before it spreads in the US.
There are videos on line of the areas in WuHan. There is no one on the street. This means people are not going to work. This means that means stuff wont get fixed. The theory is that in a complete shut down, there will be shortages in the delivery of materials used to make things run, maintenance will not be done and the cascading effect is a shut down.
That is the theory. I am not, for a second, saying that is going to happen because of this virus. Please do not suggest that I am. This is a hypothetical reason why you would want a generator.
In my area where we’ve lost power for a few days at a time, this is a good reason to have a generator. Any time there is a storm coming, I dump the cans into the truck, and get the cans refilled. It helps keep everything topped off and fresh.
Again...this is hypothetical. I am not in a panic. I am not creating drama. My background is in Emergency Management and Telecom plant construction. Then I did infrastructure risk management. I did a ton of planning and every time I would present it to the contractors doing the overall risk plan-—I would get the “what if this” crap. My mind was trained to pretty much think it through to, “What if aliens came to earth....” Ha ha.
I became concerned yesterday after I searched and found that it was reported in November there were 3 reported cases of pneumonic plague in China. And then it seemed to have fallen off the radar when only a few short weeks later this “coronavirus” started to become a thing, said to have started in December but the way Chinese responders are in full bio haz gear and taking drastic quarantine measures it makes me wonder if it’s not really the plague. What contradicts that though is the fact that since it has arrived in the US and our CDC has been able to test it they would have told us by now and stop any more flights from China. At least one would HOPE.
Around 25 years ago, I put together a “bug out bag” in case of roving zombies. It has basically been sitting the whole time.
For the last month or so, I have been searching for a Pentax compact binocular. Still haven’t found it but came across that bag. So heavy, I could barely lift it.
Going through it was like searching for buried treasure. At other times I would think to myself, “what was I thinking”.
Some were nice and glad I still have them. For instance a few high end knives with a couple of small sharpeners. Also a box of .22 ammo, (why not more?). Half the bag was candles and a huge number of of old matchbook matches. I checked them out and none still worked. I did have a few boxes of matches made for outdoors and they worked.
Ten high quality compasses. Why so many? I still don’t know.
I guess the few rolls of wire and strong twine made sense, as did the FEG. .22 LR Pistol which is tried and true.
No gun oil etc. at all. No shelter halves, No high calorie pemican. No compact binoculars. No medications. No sewing needles etc.
Oh well I never needed any of it.
“We’ll have to see what the fatality rate settles out at; 15% but data is early and suspect. It appears that 4/5 get it when exposed. Virus could mutate but hopefully attenuates.”
I was reading about the first Taiwan case. The (Taiwanese) guy was in Wuhan, got sick, took a bunch of Advil, got his temperature down enough to pass screening, flew back to Taiwan, didn’t disclose where he had been, fever went back up, and he’s positive. Wouldn’t be too bad at that, but he also had contact with others there who never left the island, and they’re now sick and may have it too (and the guy is facing 3 years in jail for lying about where he had been).
That may not worry some people here, but it does worry me.
There is that. That is my personal go-to. But the last time I suggested it, I got grief here. Ha ha.
Now, obviously just because one may be Asian, or more specifically, Chinese, that does not mean that person is contaminated, but a large percentage do travel home for the holidays and are just getting back. There are a lot of masks being worn but, on the other hand, we tend to see that every flu season. What to do? What to do?...
I'm gonna take a freight train, down at the station
I don't care where it goes
Gonna climb me a mountain, the highest mountain
Jump off, nobody gonna know...
If you go get some, let me know. I will send you money to buy me some bubble packs.
Don’t tens of thousands of Americans die every year from the flu? I’m still not sure why we lose sleep over SARS or swine flu or coronavirus.
I discovered a Chinese spy when I was working at a power plant a few years ago. She was an engineering student and worked for the plant’s electrical engineer.
When the engineer announced at a staff meeting that he hired a a Chinese student, I asked if she was from Taiwan or Red China. He said he thought she was from Red China.
A few weeks later, I went to talk to the engineer about something, but he wasn’t in his office. The student was in there and she had a drawing of a printed circuit board from the plant’s digital control system displayed on the screen. That didn’t seem right, so I told the engineer and he said that was something she should not have been doing. He let her go right away.
I’m very sorry to hear about your cancer. How are you now?
Years ago we had an ice storm. Power was out for 10 days. We took in an elderly neighbor that was freezing in her home.
I did have to go to the store. Once. For marshmallows to roast for some’mores for the kids. I made it a point to ONLY buy marshmallows at the store. The store had plenty of other stuff (well, maybe no milk, eggs or bread!) - but the clerk laughed at my purchased.
I felt pretty stupid not checking that I had an unopened pack of fresh marshmallows. The previously opened packs were hard - totally unsuitable for roasting!
We’re all gonna die!
OK
My lovely wife reminded me last night that I once kept food supplies that would last a long time, just in case ‘it’ happened. She ask me where all that stuff was and I told her it will take a few days but it’ll be in place soon.
“Don’t tens of thousands of Americans die every year from the flu? I’m still not sure why we lose sleep over SARS or swine flu or coronavirus.”
I’ve wondered that too, but it’s the numbers. For Coronavirus, the death rate appears between 2 and 7 percent, so using 4 percent, if it spreads like the common flu, meaning everyone gets exposed, then we’re looking at 14 million dead in the US, just from that virus (versus about 3 million Americans who die each year, from all causes).
Then they worry about mutations, some viruses kill close to half the people infected...so you can take it from there.
There was a podcast by some former government bio guy. He said that the national stock of medical supplies is pretty good. The trouble will be at the local level.
The government has spent a lot of money on preparations, but at the local level it gets wasted. Your local community may, or may not, be prepared.
“they would have told us by now and stop any more flights from China. At least one would HOPE.”
Yeah, I hope the same thing. At least two of the cases reported in the US were in people who had just returned from China. I don’t know about the rest of the five. Seems like the sooner transportation from the US to and from China is stopped, the better. The good news is the people who have caught it are being treated and no one seems to be concerned that, with proper care, it’s life-threatening. The coronavirus is certainly something I’m paying attention to.
Stock up on water, and non-perishables.
It is always wise to have a 2 month supply of water stocked, and the same for dried beans and canned meats and stuff.
The panic buying is the worst- you want to avoid that.
But probably nothing will happens from this... but luck favors the well prepared.
We have a small electrical substation down the end of our road. After 9-11 it got some upgrades.
They ran dump trucks out of there at the rate of I bet 4 an hour for six months. The only change I could see was a double gate at the entrance, and a wall at the front. It is a very small site, and can see it all.
A neighbor that worked for a construction company that bid on the project said it went five stories underground.
That would make sense with all the activity - and no visible change at the surface.
At 81 per week your are at near double the flu deaths for the year. This is just the start of the bell curve on this.
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