I know that I have not posted any new content for a while, however with everything going on with the spreading of Covid 19, and with schools and work places canceling and encouraging people to socially distance themselves, I felt that this would be a great time to put out a new post. I also will be planning on writing blog updates during this pandemic so as to document the experiences of my wife and I in this concerning time.
Keep in mind that I am going to be mostly referencing my experiences during this outbreak while living in a neighborhood near Salt Lake City in Utah. I understand that experiences vary from state to state and from country to country.
Currently in my state school districts have shut down, and groups have been limited to ten or fewer people in one place. Restaurants are closed to Dine-In eating, however drive thru's and food delivery are still available. Grocery stores have been getting hit hard by panic shoppers, who started targeting toilet paper, paper towels, hand sanitizes, baby wipes, and other hygiene supplies. Medical supplies such as thermometers, cold and flu medicine, Tylenol, ibuprofen, and other pain killers have been targeted as well. Eggs and Dairy products are also cleaned out of the stores. In addition, for those of us like my wife and I who have chickens, the stores are selling out of chicken food and baby chicks. There have also been reports of people stealing chickens from others.
Like most places, Utah has been encouraging greater hygiene and cleaning precautions, to help minimize the spread and contraction of the virus. I work in a behavioral therapy day treatment program for children, and our staff have been carrying around cleaners and sanitary wipes to clean the surfaces of all of the rooms that people are going into. We have been stressing to our clients the importance of proper hygiene and how to wash their hands and best clean the toys and surfaces that we encounter. My place of work is not the only location doing this, as posters, emails, and leadership at companies around the state have been teaching these practices, and encouraging proper hygiene to their employees. In addition, many places, including my own place of business, are taking the temperatures of all employees and clients at the start of each day, sending people home and/or to the doctors should they have a temperature of 100.4 degrees F or more.
Since this is a blog about prepping and emergency preparedness, I also wanted to mention a few pointers to assist in keeping you and your family prepared for a possible forced quarantine, as has happened in Italy. Some of this advice will be to address the mental health needs of a person as well as their physical needs. Maintaining a measure of communication to the outside world is important for both communicating needs and having some form of social interaction. Lets face it, humans are social creatures, and even the introverts in our society, like my wife and I, can eventually go stir crazy with enough forced isolation. Some things that will be important in the coming days and during a forced home quarantine are:
-Having a phone and/or internet access to keep that line of communication open, as well as a method to power/charge them.
-It will be important to have games, hobbies, movies, ect for entertainment. (I would recommend hobbies that also contribute to your prepping and or trade supplies, candle making, sewing, home brewing, gardening, ect).
-Journals and/or diaries are very therapeutic, they help people get emotional thoughts and fears out, giving them voice.
-Home meal tracker. Tracking what foods and ingredients you have, and what meals you can make will allow you to better know how many meals that you will be able to provide for yourself and your families until you need to refill. Since leaving for supplies may be difficult or not an option, you will need to be able to plan ahead and know what to request should the needs arise.
-Food and supplies for your pets.
-Prescription medications should be refilled, and the name and number of your doctor should be available.
-Hygiene inventory, to better track your needs.
My wife and I have already found it useful to be willing to barter goods that we have a renewing supply of, as well as items that we may have a greater quantity of in order to obtain items that we either do not have, or have less of. For example, my wife and I have been trading chicken eggs with people that have other supplies we either are missing, or are running low on. In a pandemic situation where supplies are running low, money has less value than normal, as if there is nothing to buy in the stores then the value of items over money begins to rise.
Stay prepared, stay safe!
