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> And what should each of us do, beyond staying informed and washing our hands frequently? Keep calm and rational. It might be worth stocking some reserve of cr

> And what should each of us do, beyond staying informed and washing our hands frequently? Keep calm and rational. It might be worth stocking some reserve of critical medications, for example — but not too much, because hoarding could create shortages. > We, as individuals, can also try to plan for basic contingencies. Companies can cross-train key staff members so that one person’s absence won’t derail the business. Family members and friends should be watchful of one another’s health and welfare, and stand prepared to care for the moderately ill if hospitals become overtaxed. > “Pandemic” isn’t just a technical public health term. It also is — or should be — a rallying cry. I would add that it is helpful to have a stock of at least 3 or so weeks of food and supplies so that you can, if needed, quarantine yourself and take care of yourself and your family/relations well. There isn't enough hospital space for everyone and a lot of people with the virus aren't sick enough to take that space from the those that really need it.

JulianMorrison 7y ago
You don't need to stock up if you can get food delivered. They can leave the delivery on the doorstep.
- i_am_nomad 7y ago
  That might be what the other 1.5 million people in my city are counting on. Which means, I’m not going to count on that.
  - JulianMorrison 7y ago
    If your city's supermarkets can feed people with in-person shopping, they can feed people with deliveries as easily, it's the same number of people buying food.
    - mishac 7y ago
      That's assuming that every supermarket has enough delivery staff. That's not a valid assumption in many places.
    - ddtaylor 7y ago
      With an extra layer of logistics that will have failed because the delivery drivers or pickers are sick.
- TomMarius 7y ago
  They won't once the quarantine is in effect
  - JulianMorrison 7y ago
    A quarantine that tries to prevent people getting food is a quick way to get riots. No government would be stupid like that.
    - mytailorisrich 7y ago
      Indeed. If a whole city is under quarantine then the supply of food has to be managed by the authorities.
    - TomMarius 7y ago
      Show me a person who values their minimum wage so much that they will risk making pizza deliveries (or even bake the pizza) in a quarantined city, please. Typically, the government does it in these cases, and often it's not enough or not what you need or prefer, so it's advisable to prepare.
    - pmoriarty 7y ago
      If it gets bad enough, it's quite likely that there'll be martial law, and possibly food rationing enforced.
- toomuchtodo 7y ago
  Do not count on this. Buy food stuffs that are non-perishable, which you can eat anyway if it turns out to not be needed. I speak from experience preparing for hurricanes. If you wait until the last minute, you're going to be woefully unprepared.
- jonplackett 7y ago
  You’re not taking into account panic buying / ordering. If it gets bad where you are people are just going to order as much as they can and then there won’t be enough - this already happened with masks here in the UK and we only have a few cases. I had to send some to Hong Kong for a family member a few weeks back and paid £20 for packs of 20 for proper n95 respirators. They’re now sold out online and everywhere despite being £15 EACH. Stock up now while no-one is panicking yet. Don’t waste money buying weird stuff - Just get stuff you’ll use anyway over the next few months.
  - mytailorisrich 7y ago
    > Stock up now while no-one is panicking yet That's what triggers panic buying... It's a snowball effect.
    - jerf 7y ago
      Call it tragedy of the commons, call it whatever you like; your not buying stuff now isn't going to prevent a run later. Socially, you're probably still better off buying sooner rather than later, because that means the system has more time to restock and ship things around for people later. If you're part of the end pile up, you're another stresser at the worst time. As evidence of this... the ideal time to stock up with emergency supplies was months or even a couple of years ago, when it would bother nobody. I've buffed up some supplies a bit, but I wasn't starting from scratch because I've been keeping stuff on hand for a while now. Giving the system months or years of headstart is better than weeks, but weeks or even a single week is better than nothing.
      - jonplackett 7y ago
        Thanks for this comeback - exactly. Ordering a few extra tins of beans and spaghetti is hardly going to create a snowball effect if you do it now. Food isn’t in short supply in general, it just may become in relatively short supply in the shops near you. They’ll reorder more by tomorrow with no issues. It’s just about having it in your house VS in a storage centre some place. Masks is slightly different I will agree. They are genuinely in short supply and medical workers need them more.
- tharne 7y ago
  You're not accounting for the fact that in these types of situations, there is often a run on things like food. You can only get food delivered if the stores still have food.
- empath75 7y ago
  What about the people that made the food you got delivered.
nickjj 7y ago
> if needed, quarantine yourself and take care of yourself and your family/relations well How would that work in practice? The last I heard you can catch this virus pretty easily just by having air touch your eye. A lot of people live in either a city or a suburban area and most apartments and houses aren't air tight. Wouldn't your breath get circulated out of your apartment, mixed in with the outside air and drift over to your neighbor -- or is the virus not that susceptible to spreading?
- yulaow 7y ago
  The virus is not airborne, it propagates via aerosol so it is very short lived "in the air" and over surfaces.
  - burpsnard 7y ago
    i read last week that it is indeed airbourne, not only from cough/sneeze but also from flatulence, out to 200 meters
    - sagichmal 7y ago
      This is not correct.
    - jonplackett 7y ago
      A claim like this needs a source
      - WaltPurvis 7y ago
        I think OP might be confusing "airborne" with "aerosolized" because the latter is transmitted through the air, just over very short distances. Although, in the case of aerosolized fecal transmission due to buildings with decrepit/faulty plumbing, the distances can be fairly large. And it does appear Covid-19 can be spread that way: https://www.newsweek.com/coronavirus-may-spreading-so-fast-because-feacal-transmission-scientists-say-1488204 https://www.newsweek.com/coronavirus-may-spreading-so-fast-b... https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/22221751.2020.1729071 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/22221751.2020.1... https://www.vox.com/2020/2/20/21143785/coronavirus-covid-19-spread-transmission-how https://www.vox.com/2020/2/20/21143785/coronavirus-covid-19-... https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-02-20/fecal-transmission-may-be-behind-coronavirus-s-rapid-spread https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-02-20/fecal-tra...
rv-de 7y ago
What's your prepper food of choice?

JulianMorrison 7y ago

You don't need to stock up if you can get food delivered. They can leave the delivery on the doorstep.

i_am_nomad 7y ago
That might be what the other 1.5 million people in my city are counting on. Which means, I’m not going to count on that.
- JulianMorrison 7y ago
  If your city's supermarkets can feed people with in-person shopping, they can feed people with deliveries as easily, it's the same number of people buying food.
  - mishac 7y ago
    That's assuming that every supermarket has enough delivery staff. That's not a valid assumption in many places.
  - ddtaylor 7y ago
    With an extra layer of logistics that will have failed because the delivery drivers or pickers are sick.
TomMarius 7y ago
They won't once the quarantine is in effect
- JulianMorrison 7y ago
  A quarantine that tries to prevent people getting food is a quick way to get riots. No government would be stupid like that.
  - mytailorisrich 7y ago
    Indeed. If a whole city is under quarantine then the supply of food has to be managed by the authorities.
  - TomMarius 7y ago
    Show me a person who values their minimum wage so much that they will risk making pizza deliveries (or even bake the pizza) in a quarantined city, please. Typically, the government does it in these cases, and often it's not enough or not what you need or prefer, so it's advisable to prepare.
  - pmoriarty 7y ago
    If it gets bad enough, it's quite likely that there'll be martial law, and possibly food rationing enforced.
toomuchtodo 7y ago
Do not count on this. Buy food stuffs that are non-perishable, which you can eat anyway if it turns out to not be needed. I speak from experience preparing for hurricanes. If you wait until the last minute, you're going to be woefully unprepared.
jonplackett 7y ago
You’re not taking into account panic buying / ordering. If it gets bad where you are people are just going to order as much as they can and then there won’t be enough - this already happened with masks here in the UK and we only have a few cases. I had to send some to Hong Kong for a family member a few weeks back and paid £20 for packs of 20 for proper n95 respirators. They’re now sold out online and everywhere despite being £15 EACH. Stock up now while no-one is panicking yet. Don’t waste money buying weird stuff - Just get stuff you’ll use anyway over the next few months.
- mytailorisrich 7y ago
  > Stock up now while no-one is panicking yet That's what triggers panic buying... It's a snowball effect.
  - jerf 7y ago
    Call it tragedy of the commons, call it whatever you like; your not buying stuff now isn't going to prevent a run later. Socially, you're probably still better off buying sooner rather than later, because that means the system has more time to restock and ship things around for people later. If you're part of the end pile up, you're another stresser at the worst time. As evidence of this... the ideal time to stock up with emergency supplies was months or even a couple of years ago, when it would bother nobody. I've buffed up some supplies a bit, but I wasn't starting from scratch because I've been keeping stuff on hand for a while now. Giving the system months or years of headstart is better than weeks, but weeks or even a single week is better than nothing.
    - jonplackett 7y ago
      Thanks for this comeback - exactly. Ordering a few extra tins of beans and spaghetti is hardly going to create a snowball effect if you do it now. Food isn’t in short supply in general, it just may become in relatively short supply in the shops near you. They’ll reorder more by tomorrow with no issues. It’s just about having it in your house VS in a storage centre some place. Masks is slightly different I will agree. They are genuinely in short supply and medical workers need them more.
tharne 7y ago
You're not accounting for the fact that in these types of situations, there is often a run on things like food. You can only get food delivered if the stores still have food.
empath75 7y ago
What about the people that made the food you got delivered.

nickjj 7y ago

> if needed, quarantine yourself and take care of yourself and your family/relations well How would that work in practice? The last I heard you can catch this virus pretty easily just by having air touch your eye. A lot of people live in either a city or a suburban area and most apartments and houses aren't air tight. Wouldn't your breath get circulated out of your apartment, mixed in with the outside air and drift over to your neighbor -- or is the virus not that susceptible to spreading?

yulaow 7y ago
The virus is not airborne, it propagates via aerosol so it is very short lived "in the air" and over surfaces.
- burpsnard 7y ago
  i read last week that it is indeed airbourne, not only from cough/sneeze but also from flatulence, out to 200 meters
  - sagichmal 7y ago
    This is not correct.
  - jonplackett 7y ago
    A claim like this needs a source
    - WaltPurvis 7y ago
      I think OP might be confusing "airborne" with "aerosolized" because the latter is transmitted through the air, just over very short distances. Although, in the case of aerosolized fecal transmission due to buildings with decrepit/faulty plumbing, the distances can be fairly large. And it does appear Covid-19 can be spread that way: https://www.newsweek.com/coronavirus-may-spreading-so-fast-because-feacal-transmission-scientists-say-1488204 https://www.newsweek.com/coronavirus-may-spreading-so-fast-b... https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/22221751.2020.1729071 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/22221751.2020.1... https://www.vox.com/2020/2/20/21143785/coronavirus-covid-19-spread-transmission-how https://www.vox.com/2020/2/20/21143785/coronavirus-covid-19-... https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-02-20/fecal-transmission-may-be-behind-coronavirus-s-rapid-spread https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-02-20/fecal-tra...

rv-de 7y ago

What's your prepper food of choice?