How to Prepare for a Pandemic
Do you know if you are prepared for a pandemic? Many people can’t handle a potential disaster. Many experts, however, do agree we should be planning for this global event.
Over thousands of years, pandemics have been a part of human history, and that one will happen again. TIME estimates that microbes grow approximately 40 million times faster than humans. One tiny virus may evolve in a way that stretches our immune systems quickly and fully devastates the human population around the world.
Planning for a pandemic is like planning for other crises such as a long-term power outage or natural disaster, but some key differences do occur in a pandemic. Let's discuss what you can do to brace your family for a pandemic, on a budget.
The Diseases Most LIkely to Cause a Pandemic
According to the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP), nine influenza pandemics have occurred in the last 300 years. Such pandemics are not cyclical; that is, there is no trend of their frequency. The longest gap between pandemics was 56 years, while the shortest gap was three years. We can't say that we 're “overdue” for an influenza pandemic because each pandemic was a random event, and random events can't be predicted.
That said, because of their frequent appearance across history, scientists expect to see a big pandemic of some kind in the future. The human population is now at a greater risk of a pandemic than in the past as air travel makes it easy for people to move across borders easily and thus spread infectious disease. There are also more of us; TIME states that over the last 50 years, the number of people on the planet has doubled, which means that there are more of us who can get sick and infect others.
A team of researchers at the Johns Hopkins Institute for Health Protection in Baltimore investigated this question in 2017. Pathogens such as Ebola and Zika virus have alarmed the public in the past, but they are unlikely to cause a worldwide pandemic catastrophe.
Instead, the study said that airborne viruses— like those like the common cold virus—are the greatest threat of becoming a pandemic.
In addition to a potential airborne pathogen, the following traits are needed be a global pandemic:
- The pathogen should be infectious during the "incubation period" or when there are only minor signs in humans.
- It would be a non-resistant microbe that can infect multiple hosts.
- The type of treatment vaccination or prevention would not be available.
- A pathogen with a high rate of fatality may destroy too many hosts too soon and therefore run out of people to infect further.
The highest likelihood of triggering a global pandemic outbreak is a category of viruses known as RNA viruses. It covers viruses such as pneumonia (influenza) and SARS but also common cold.
What Has a Worldwide Pandemic Looked Like?
The simulation exercise exposed a massive preparedness gap. In the simulation, the immune-resistant virus (nicknamed CAPS) resulted in a death toll of 65 million people within 18 months—surpassing the deadliest pandemic in history, the 1918 Spanish flu.
Based on past pandemics, we know the risk of millions of deaths is possible. Only months before the Chinese epidemic, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and John Hopkins University ran a potential Coronavirus pandemic outbreak simulation.
The test showed a huge difference in preparedness. In 18 months, the immune-resistant influenza (nicknamed CAPS) resulted in a death toll of 65 million people — overcoming the deadliest pandemic in history, the 1918 Spanish flu.
How Will a Pandemic Affect our Lives?
More than 500 million people were hospitalized during the 1918 flu pandemic; it is estimated that 50 million of them died. The population was still severely impacted even in regions where mortality rates were small. Hospitals were crowded, schools shut down, shops shuttered for weeks and people had to do with what they had.
Technology has left the world vulnerable to a pandemic epidemic. Modern public infrastructures can easily shut down without people working, preserving and repairing the facilities.
Through municipal water sources and infrastructure to food supplies and trade, our global economy needs people to sustain this incredibly complex framework on which we have become dependent. Our network can soon be swamped as people start getting sick. If we aren't ready to deal with that, the effects of shutting down major public and private infrastructures could kill more people than the illness.
HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF FOR A PANDEMIC OUTBREAK
-
Create an Emergency Plan
Begin to think about who can care for your family during a pandemic. Remember your children, other families, acquaintances, neighbors or community members. Talk to these people in advance to see how you can support each other in a pandemic. Before a pandemic takes place, it is important to ask yourself these questions and plan an emergency list. You won't have to worry about what to do if the worst were to happen.
Think about your work situation and the possibility of a remote working solution if a pandemic were to occur. You should also make a list of community organizations you can contact to receive help in the form of information, medical assistance, food, and other supplies. A good place to start is the Red Cross. You might also want to talk to local officials about how they would distribute emergency assistance in your community during a pandemic.
Consider your work situation and the likelihood of a remote work solution if there is a pandemic. You should also write a list of local community organizations for help with emergency information, medical assistance, food and other supplies. The Red Cross is a good place to begin. You may want to explore emergency assistance to your area during a pandemic with local officials.
-
Start Buying Food Essentials and Emergency Supplies
Ensure that your basic needs are met. The necessities of a pandemic include water, protection, medicine, medication, sanitation, and security. The less you interact with others during a pandemic, the higher your odds are to stay healthy.
Past pandemics have moved through populations within six to eight weeks. At a minimum, emergency supplies should last for at least six to eight weeks. You can then set a goal to store enough for 3, 6 and then 12 months.
Building a long-term food pantry ensures that by going to the store you are not in danger of being poisoned and you have enough food when food shortages occur during a pandemic.
Think about the food you eat and share with your family. These could include:
- Rice
- Dried beans, lentils, or peas
- Protein bars, granola bars, or fruit bars
- Canned soups, fruit, and vegetables
- Peanut butter and jelly
- Coffee, tea, and hot chocolate
- Powdered drink mixes
- Nuts and dried fruits
- Beef jerky
- Pasta
- Instant soup mixes
- Flour
- Baking essentials (such as baking soda, salt, and yeast)
- Sugar
- Pickled vegetables
- Dried milk
- Evaporated or condensed milk
- Trail mix
- Applesauce
- Comfort food: cookies, candy bars, and chocolate
- Oils: olive oil, vegetable oil, and coconut oil
- Crackers
- Oats
- Pancake mix
- Cereal including hot cereals like Cream of Wheat
- Chicken, beef, and vegetable bouillon cubes
- Liquid seasonings: soy sauce, vinegar, Sriracha, etc.
- Liquid sweeteners: honey, maple syrup, chocolate syrup, and agave syrup
- Spices:salt, onion flakes, cinnamon, ginger, etc.
- Packaged foods such as macaroni and cheese and instant potatoes
- Canned meats: tuna, sardines, oysters, chicken, turkey, pork, sausage, and Spam
- Formula or baby food for young children
Make sure to also buy supplies to stay healthy at home. These essentials include:
- Hand soap and sanitizer
- Bleach or other surface cleaners
- Toilet paper
- Kleenex
- Prescription medication
- Fluids with electrolytes like Gatorade and Pedialyte
- Garbage bags for medical waste disposal
- Plastic gloves
- Diapers for very small children
- Pain relievers
- Cough and cold medicine
- Stomach medicine, including anti-diarrheal
- Vitamins
- First aid kit
- Face respirators such as the N95 respirator
Many herbal drugs are a great treatment for frugal flu and may be more efficient than store-bought medicine. Herbs like elderberry and oregano oil are highly effective in the prevention of disease and in reducing the frequency and length of the disease as it progresses. These are also great natural remedies to keep your children safe during a prolonged illness.
Keep track of your spending as materials are bought slowly and only with a discount or go on sale. Don't neglect to also supply your pets’ food. Even though the possibility of a collapse is small, services and electricity could be interrupted or completely halted if large sections of the population become disabled or must stay at home and look after sick family members. Have enough equipment like candles, lanterns, a hand-crank and solar-powered radio that can last for several days or weeks and use a solar oven to cook food without electricity.
-
Practice Good Hygiene
Just like any illness, good hygiene is the key to preventing infection. Hand washing is easy, and a clear alcohol-based hand sanitizer with 62 to 75% ethanol will serve to kill almost any pandemic pathogen within 30 seconds.
Daily hygienic actions will significantly reduce the risk of infectious diseases being detected (and spread). The CDC advises you:
- Wash your hands with hot soapy water for at least 20 seconds after being around public spaces or a sick person.
- Keep your hands from your eyes, nose and mouth.
- Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when you sneeze.
- Stay home when you are sick. Don't go out for 24 hours until you no longer have a fever and do not need fever-reduction drugs.
- Clean surfaces and objects often.
Start doing these activities with your family, particularly if you have smaller children. When you practice every day, it will be second nature to you if a pandemic occurs, reducing the risk of somebody being sick in your household.
-
Avoid Hospitals, Shelters, and Large Crowds of People
Contact a medical practitioner for medical advice if you are ill. Hospitals are ground zero for a pandemic and, if possible, they must be avoided. Do not visit tents or locations where large groups of people assemble as the disease spreads further in these settings. In the case of a pandemic, the ill should stay in a separate "sick room" during a pandemic and take a dedicated bathroom that nobody else can take advantage of.
Consider what space will work best like a sick room in your house. Have an extra plastic shower curtain on hand if the room does not have a lock to isolate them from the rest of the house. If someone falls ill, bring them in an isolation room and disinfect with bleach every day.
ARE YOU PREPARED?
The more you plan now, the more you are in charge, the worse will happen. You will not need to worry about going to the store and be vulnerable to an infection if you can take care of your family for a significant amount of time. You won't have to worry about packed doctor's offices or hospital waiting rooms.
It could be scary to think of a global pandemic with apocalyptic films, books, TV shows, and video games that capitalize on these fears and show us in horrible depth how a pandemic could ever unfold. In order to mitigate these problems, creating a plan, buying the supplies, and making sure your home is prepared in case of a pandemic can help alleviate your anxieties so you and your family can stay safe and healthy.