A Coronavirus Survival Guide
The new, highly contagious strain of the human coronavirus is perpetually on the tip of everyone’s tongues these days, but there are two ways to handle a potential pandemic of this nature: embracing fearmongering rumors or attempting to gain perspective and calmly preparing for the worst.
We prefer the latter.
So, without further ado, here are some tips, hacks, and general advice to help you overcome your fears and rest in the fact that you’ve done everything you can to prepare for the unfolding global spread of the coronavirus.
Gauging an appropriate response
Before we get into any preparations, let’s make one thing clear: it’s extremely unlikely that we’re prepping for the end of the world here. Global diseases and sicknesses are par for the course historically speaking, and the coronavirus doesn’t appear to stand out from the crowd in any one particular important sense.
So resist the urge to treat this like prep for the zombie apocalypse. Instead, let’s dial back those exaggerations and consider what truly is at stake here.
Coronavirus symptoms
It’s a good idea to start with a simple question: what does the coronavirus look like? If you’ve spent the last few weeks or months hunched over your devices day and night reading any and every source on the virus, you can probably skip this section. However, for those of you who haven’t read into things too much, here’s a brief rundown of the coronavirus symptoms.
According to the CDC, the symptoms for COVID-19 (this particular strain of coronavirus) include:
Fever.
Cough.
Shortness of breath.
All of these can range from mild to severe, and typically show up from 2 to 14 days after initial exposure. And that’s about it with this one. No crazy symptoms out of left field or weird bodily reactions. Just the classic quiet-yet-serious dangers that are present in so many other illnesses.
Developing a coronavirus vaccine
At this point, one of the most highly touted long term solutions for the coronavirus is the development of a vaccine to head off its future effects. Whether that will fully solve the problem or not, though, there currently isn’t a vaccine to use in the first place.
Several larger companies and startups are working on a solution, but it could take months to develop a legitimate vaccine. At that point, it would take even more time to test it — a critical step that should never be rushed. Even once a vaccine has been proven, it still requires even more time to manufacture it in order to create hundreds of millions and even billions of doses.
While a vaccine could offer at least a partial solution over the course of time, we clearly won’t even have the option for quite a while.
Gaining Perspective
There’s no doubt at this point that the coronavirus is deadly. Tragically, thousands of people have died, and the death rate seems to be hovering somewhere at or a little below 2% to 3%.
In addition, coronavirus transmission is extremely easy and the virus doesn’t always show symptoms right away, so it’s nearly impossible to contain. In fact, at this point, researchers are estimating that as much as 40 to 70 percent of the global population could ultimately contract the coronavirus, even if many people won’t even realize that they were sick.
So, how should we take all of these symptoms, statistics, and responses? For one thing, while it does have a seriously high mortality rate compared to things like the seasonal flu, thus far the numbers pale in comparison to other sicknesses in the recent, distant, and even ancient past.
The point is, while the coronavirus is serious, it isn’t a Bubonic Plague-esque, don’t leave your house or you could keel over dead in a few hours kind of serious. It’s simply the kind of sickness that deserves respect and preparation.
Finding a Reasonable Response
While the world can look to government responses and long-term vaccines for solutions, the big question in the here and now is how you can respond to the dangers of the coronavirus. Here are a few of the best ways that you can ensure you simultaneously don’t overreact and yet are ready for the worst.
A Mental Response to the Coronavirus
First thing’s first. Before you steer into that stereotypical prepper vibe and start stocking up on MREs, bottled water, and shotgun shells, slow your roll and think for a few minutes. As has been fairly clearly established by now, the coronavirus is:
A: Here to stay and likely going to run its course regardless of what we do to stop it.
B: Less deadly than many other dangerous pandemics that have come in the past.
C: Still important to treat as a serious yet likely manageable threat for most people.
All of these are important considerations, as they significantly impact the way that you go about preparing for the worst. If you can be ready for a worst-case scenario while simultaneously maintaining your cool, you’ll be in the best place possible. This can enable you to preserve your sanity, save your hard-earned cash, and still feel comfortable with the fact that you’re ready for anything.
Okay, did you take a deep breath? Are you calmer, sweating less, feeling those pangs of panic subside? Good. We’re ready to move on to the next stage.
Prepping for the coronavirus
If you don’t have the coronavirus yet, first of all, awesome. We’re happy for you.
However, the virus can transmit from person to person and is community spread — meaning people are catching the coronavirus within a geographic community and they don’t even know how they got it.
That said, here are some of the top ways you can help yourself, your local community, and the world as a whole in both the mental and the physical battle against the coronavirus:
Take care of your health
Let’s start with an easy one. This may sound like advice that should show up in a wellness magazine, but your health really is your first line of defense against the coronavirus in more ways than one.
Obviously, if you’re healthy your body is less susceptible to getting sick. However, it’s also important to maintain your health as it can avoid unnecessary trips to the doctor or the emergency room. When everyone is heading to the ER with the sniffles it has the negative effect of filling up hospitals and urgent care centers that need the space for those who are truly hurting.
From taking your vitamins to making good food choices, resting well, and exercising regularly, make sure to keep your body in good shape in the here and now. Trust us, you’ll be thankful you did.
Stay Sanitary
This is another obvious one, and yet, how many of us really wash regularly with warm water and soap? How about for at least 20 seconds every time?
In addition, make sure to keep alcohol-based hand sanitizer nearby at all times and make a habit of trying your best not to touch your face. If you stay sanitary in your actions, you’re much less likely to contract something.
Remember your social sickness etiquette
Whether you’re dealing with a head cold, you have the stomach bug, or you’re just feeling a little under the weather, always remember your social etiquette in public. Everyone is already on edge anyway and neither you nor your family, friends, or neighbors should be sharing germs of any kind right now.
Make a point to keep your hands clean, use that vampire cough move every time you need to cough or sneeze, and try hard not to do germ-sharing activities like touch your face before you shake someone’s hand.
In fact, at times like this, sick or not, it can be helpful to simply try to avoid contact with others whenever it isn’t necessary. This is especially true if you’re interacting with the elderly or those with chronic illnesses and sickness like cancer who can be more susceptible to both the coronavirus and, really, any other serious sickness.
Take Your Work to the Cloud
The gig economy is booming and a robust 70% of people around the world already work remotely at least once a week. Add onto that the fact that the stock price for the video conferencing software Zoom has spiked and it can safely be assumed that the global workforce consensus for how to respond to the coronavirus is to work from home.
Whether you’re an employee asking to work from home or an employer letting your staff take their efforts to the cloud, look for any possible way to keep your workforce happily plugging away remotely for as long as possible.
Thoughtfully Have Things Delivered
Another easy workaround that can help you both avoid being infected by or infecting others is simply ordering things online and having them delivered to your home. While that can be a great workaround, though, it’s also important that you only order items that you need.
Delivery workers will be in high demand as everyone turns to them instead of going to the stores themselves. You don’t want to put extra pressure on the system simply because you want a new copy of Scrabble — especially when someone down the road could genuinely need something important delivered quickly.
Prepare for Isolation
This title may look scary, but it doesn’t have to be. While community-wide isolation (e.g. quarantining larger geographic areas of people) may be a solution that is applied in your particular region at some point or another, in the meantime, it’s important to prepare for a potential term in isolation, whether it ultimately comes by choice or by force.
With that in mind, make sure to stock up on at least two to three weeks of supplies in the event that such an eventuality comes knocking on your door in the future. Ideally, if you can stock for two to three months of alone time, that’s even better. Again, this could be for voluntary isolation or a publically ordered quarantine. As you prepare, here are a few of the most important things to remember:
Drinking water.
Foods with a long shelf life. (Try to get a variety of things like beans, canned goods, and rice in order to shake things up if you’re forced to subsist on them for a long time.)
Basic first aid supplies.
Hand sanitizer.
A good stock of any prescription medicines you may be taking.
Toilet paper, feminine hygiene products, and other basic toiletries.
Things to keep you busy at home. (books, games, etc.)
A generator if you have one.
Fuel for the generator and for heating. (wood, propane, etc.)
Bleach, rubbing alcohol, and powerful household cleaners.
(Possibly) protective outerwear. (Ideally, we suggest you try to leave them for hospital workers and others who really need them, but if you feel the need, look for N95 masks, protective eyewear, and nitrile gloves.)
These are the most basic items. Obviously there are many other smaller concerns like tools, clothing, a charging brick for your electronics, checking the condition of your vehicle, and so on. You’ll want to consider which of these are also worth checking in on just in case you suddenly find yourself on your own for a few weeks or months.
It’s important that you make these preparations with the awareness that you very well may not need them. If that’s the case, make sure to purchase food items that you can easily cycle into your normal groceries, swap out the water over time, refresh the fuel, and so on, so that you don’t waste all of your invested time and money and your prepper stash doesn’t go bad over time.
Prepping for a Pandemic
In all reality, if the world is already heading in a vaccination direction, the stark reality is that, like the flu, the coronavirus may already be here to stay.
If that’s the case, prepping for a pandemic emergency isn’t just something to do in the name of personal preservation. It becomes a socially conscious activity as well, actively contributing to the attempt to contain and reduce the effectiveness of the virus. In other words, if you prep with the right mindset, you won’t simply be an island all alone in your home, you’ll become part of a larger community that is fighting back against the coronavirus together.
As a final word of warning, we’ve done our best to quote the CDC, WHO, and other dependable sources of information throughout this article. Always be on the lookout for sources like those, whether you’re going to them directly or through a third party. If someone is making unfounded claims about things as serious as the coronavirus, that’s a good sign to run away. Instead, always look for legitimate sources as you go about your preparations.
Now its time to make a list, check it twice, and then start calmy and cooly prepping for whatever lies ahead. Godspeed.