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I feel like the debate between the "don't panic" crowd and the "preppers" is a useless semantic debate between extremists. You want to react the appropriate am
by koheripbal 7y ago
I feel like the debate between the "don't panic" crowd and the "preppers" is a useless semantic debate between extremists.
You want to react the appropriate amount. For the time being, you should go about your normal routine, but like the CDC said today, you should prepare for some major lifestyle disruptions.
- robben1234 7y agoOur world is filled with viruses, and we have set measures to fight it. I'm afraid Covid2019 might became a reason for another Patriot act, seizing people's rights and freedoms even more.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- irq11 7y agoSure, but “don’t panic” is not an extreme sentiment, nor does it imply you shouldn’t prepare. Panic over an illness that has infected a grand total of less than 100,000 people...out of 7 billion, is probably an overreaction, in almost every case. The amount of absolute garbage information flooding the internet right now has caused a lot of folks I know to freak out, when the relative risk of this virus is lower than any number of other things they do on a daily basis without a second thought. So yes, wash your hands more, try to avoid large crowds amd have a plan for when they cancel your kid’s school or whatever, but don’t start a run on canned goods at the local grocery store. It’s important to maintain perspective.
- hartator 7y agoHow is avoid large crowd advice have more perspective than buy can food?
- irq11 7y agoYour choice to avoid crowds helps everyone, because the crowds are one person smaller. Hoarding canned food from your local store hurts everyone, because now they have less food.
- oxymoran 7y agoBuying 46 cans of beans and corn is hardly hoarding. Everyone shouldn’t have been so apathetic.
- ithkuil 7y agoMy sister in law was in Milan a few days ago. In her words the city was deserted and the reaction by immediate family members to the description was to fuel more panic and suggestions to react by hoarding basic food supplies asap. The main rationale for suggesting that was to react on other people panicking. Everything we do has consequences.
- irq11 7y agoIt’s especially important to manage your sense of panic when everyone else is losing their mind. The fact that a simple acknowledgement that hoarding is objectively worse than avoiding large crowds is voted down to -1, should tell you everything you need to know about the sense of panic that is sweeping the internet right now.
- ceejayoz 7y agoAh, but I panic a bit about other people panicking.
- chipperyman573 7y agoOut of curiosity, have you done anything to prepare for any major lifestyle disruptions?
- cco 7y agoA fringe benefit, perhaps the only ;), of living in San Francisco is that you are always prepared for major lifestyle disruptions; it is called an earthquake plan and you should have one. Plenty of food and water to last at least seven days, evacuation meeting points etc. Oh and a wrench for those pesky gas mains.
- thaumasiotes 7y ago> Plenty of food and water to last at least seven days I'm always a little bemused to see food and water given equal weight in preparedness recommendations like this. If you have no food at all for seven days, that won't really cause problems. If you're only planning for a seven-day emergency, there's no reason to store any amount of food. If you have water for 7 days and food for 3 months, the lack of water will cause a lot of problems.
- kaikai 7y agoNo reason? How many days have you gone without food before? No, you won’t die, but it won’t be comfortable.
- wahern 7y agoHunger and hunger pangs disappear by day 3 or 4, and what pain there is almost entirely mental. Lots of people do 7-10 fasts (especially in California), and this experience is quite typical if not universal. Though, perhaps once you get to the point of starvation the experience changes. I've done a few 5-7 day juice fasts starting at ~600 calories per day--all sugar as fat and protein prevent hunger from subsiding. After the hunger subsides it's easier to taper off entirely. The hard part is dealing with stress. Even though it's common to experience a mental high and to even perform well athletically, the difficulty with stress betrays the fact that your body has declining energy.
- iliveinchina 7y agoI can comment on a couple unexpected shortages we've seen in Asia: toilet paper, due to panic buying, and hand sanitizer. There are also some concerns about medicines unrelated to the virus because many meds are produced in China and the supply chain here is all screwed up. So some might consider getting medicine refills for 30 days (or however long your insurance will let you) in advance. You also might not want to have to go wait in line at a pharmacy during a pandemic. In terms of work: it may make sense to start thinking about what kind of work can be done efficiently remotely vs. on-site. You also may want to think about finances in case the world sees a significant economic contraction. If lots of countries replicate what has happened in China, the world economy will be highly disrupted for at least a couple months.
- asdfasgasdgasdg 7y agoSuper useful comment. R.e. toilet paper, random observation: buy a bidet and you basically won't need to buy tp very much any more. They are very inexpensive at least in the states. You can get one for $20 or so.
- 3fe9a03ccd14ca5 7y agoI made this same recommendation and got downvoted(?!). Bidets really are a great invention. Basically cut your toilet paper down to almost nothing.
- nate_meurer 7y agoThis is the most useful comment ever made in any forum for all of history. I would give you all of my karma points if I could.
- AstralStorm 7y agoHopefully you have running water. I'd still recommend keeping some TP in case water goes out in toilet.
- asdfasgasdgasdg 7y ago