How are you preparing for COVID-19 disruptions?

My father had the misfortune of being a civilian in Kuwait during the first gulf war. What I learned from his stories is that the line between normalcy and utter chaos is thinner than one would think.

The war itself from the perspective of someone not actively participating is mostly boring (his words) - you can't really go outside, cable is down(no internet back then), not much is happening.

But the brief transition period between peace and war is the worst. People desperately trying to stock up in the last minutes, quickly realizing that it's pointless to stand in line and pay when there are so many more of them than the supermarket's staff.

I, for one, "prepared" by weighing 10kg more than a few years ago. I have body fat to spare. My only worry is a good source of water-soluble vitamins.

I'm not.

There's no meaningful preparations for avoiding what is essentially a really dangerous variant of the common cold at an individual level.

Now governments and the medical field should be preparing for it. But most of that is logistical problems (e.g. number of hospital beds, preparing quarantine plans, test kits, etc).

You can order a bunch of masks if it makes you feel better, but countries with common mask usage are still seeing a large scale spread so YMMV.

I'm really surprised there's 300 comments (with lots of panic) and nobody mentioned the official WHO guidelines https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2... especially the part about "How to cope with stress during 2019-nCoV outbreak"

Over the last few weeks, we have acquired enough food/supplies to stay isolated at our house for about 2 months (a combination of bulk rice/beans/grains, and pre-purchasing anything we use regularly which has a long expiration date). We also have medicines/toiletries/etc to last that long.

Maybe 10-12 years ago I read the book 'The Great Influenza'[1], and there are enough similarities between that outbreak and this one that we are taking it fairly seriously.

Although that book isn't perfect, it has a lot of detailed and fascinating explanation on (a) the development of scientific medicine in Europe and then the US (b) the way flu works, is transmitted, etc (c) the way that specific pandemic played out.

[1] https://www.amazon.com/Great-Influenza-Deadliest-Pandemic-Hi...

Refill your medication(s), that's the biggest one. India produces a lot of drugs and if they get infected, we will see shortage. China also produces a lot of the base chemicals used in medication, so this is worry some. If you have chronic conditions, you really don't want to be without.

Soap and sanitizer. Mostly soap. Soap is equally effective as sanitizer in washing hands, etc. Soap is also much cheaper and more available. If the local region goes into lock down, you're not going out much so soap will work well.

Get one to two weeks of food and supplies in case. There isn't going to be a global shortage, but we may see short term runs on supplies. Include stuff like tooth brush, mouth wash, and etc. For my wife I also stocked up on a larger supplies of feminine hygiene products.

Masks. I got 20 per family member in our local area. For when you need to go out and restock food. Also learn how to properly use the mask.

Some things to consider (we're doing most of these):

1. Find out what is going on, the Interwebs are your friends. The press and politicians aren't much use. The bureaucracy (China, Japan, Iran for example) are not much use and may make things worse.

2. Carry around some sanitising, no water, hand cleaner.

3. Get a few decent masks and read up how long to use them.

4. Find out what Fomites are and think about what that means.

5. Read up on hand cleaning. What you do now, CDC style, WHO style, operating theatre style and decide what to do. Start now.

6. Practice coughing and sneezing in a safe way, even if you're not naturally doing that now.

7. Study up on the Bayesian priors of the different ways the disease may hit you, 80% pretty mild. Check incubation times, up to 24 days, so who knows why they're still using 14. Asymptomatic people can spread for all, or most, of those incubation days. Get your mind into thinking about those and all the mechanics. If you're really determined solve some of the ODE's, for SIR, SEIR etc. program that and run your own epidemic progression models.

8. Prepare for a siege if it comes to that. Maybe write out operating procedures and lay in some supplies. For example if people have to deliver food etc. and leave it on the doorstep or whatever, work out the details.

9. Go visit people you care about who are frail or have compromised immune systems BEFORE anything breaks.

10. With Epidemics the populace is generally slow to realise it has started and also slow to realise it has finished. Think about that, prepare yourself. Don't be one of the fools.

11. If you don't already work from home, or have an understanding about that, get it fixed right away.

12. All the above also for your nearest and dearest too.

ENUF.

We ran a drill a couple of weeks back where everybody worked from home to ensure that if we have to close our office we are able to continue working (assuming we're not ill, of course). This was really just to shake out any issues.

Fortunately, since most of us already work remotely for at least some of the time we didn't have any significant issues.

Beyond that, nothing really.

I haven't done too much, but that's because I'm generally prepared with 2 months food/water supply for general purpose emergencies. Living in the Pacific Northwest, we're expecting a pretty large earthquake as we're statistically overdue. Once panic has set in, it's too late to prepare for much of anything. Preparing is taking action beforehand, not after. I mean, if we even get news of 100 degree weather in this part of the country, the air conditioners fly off the shelves. When there's a possibility of a snow storm, everybody panics at once and empties the grocery shelves.

Whether or not coronavirus turns into a stop-all-of-society-for-weeks event, China already stopped much of their society for a while. That means that things made in China are going to get scarce in a month or so. I therefore am paying attention to what things that I regularly use are made in China, and buying a few extra now, so that I can take a month or two disruption in the supply.

I guess it's the selective aspect of a question like this but I'm genuinely surprised that so many people in this thread are taking actual measures.

I wash my hands well and try to avoid touching my face. I try to avoid touching bathroom door handles and use some type of napkin or glove. I have been doing this for a long time, so its not really something I am doing just for this virus.

If you read CDC website they also recommend washing hands and avoid touching your face. It is much harder if you have small kids, just don’t forget to also wash their hands if they have been out in public places.

I stocked up on this new limited edition Eggo cereal, as it is the spiritual successor to the long forgotten Waffle Crisp, the #1 cereal from my childhood. Honey Comb simply does not compare, don't even bother mentioning it. If things start getting scary, I'll stock up on some milk.

(I'm not doing anything)

I've already been preparing as a hobby for the last 3 years, not specifically for coronavirus, but here's how I'm prepared for it:

- I work remotely, so I can hunker down at home and have my income totally unaffected.

- I've close to 6 months worth of food, and I've been buying more in the last month as the news continues. I can give some tips on what I think is good inexpensive food to get in case anyone is interested.

- I'm fasting regularly, which will realistically extend my food supply. Most people calculate their food supply by 3 meals a day plus snacks, but you can go days without eating. Right now I'm closing in on 72 hours without food. I'm perfectly fine. You get used to it. The key is getting your electrolytes and getting out of your sugar addiction.

- I have lots of water stored up, although that's not going to be much of a problem with COVID-19. Several filters meant to remove viruses, though I have a distiller so I would probably just use that if I was really that paranoid about my water, which I probably won't be.

- My medicine cabinet has everything you can think of and more. I have 2 first aid kits and a trauma kit. I have what it takes to turn the entrance to my home into a decon chamber, if need be. I have tons of bleach and disinfectants.

- I have full gas masks with filters, including adapters for 3M filters, which should be perfectly sufficient to remove droplets in the air. I also have full tyvek suits in case there's a worst case scenario but I have to leave my home. I have lots of N95 masks, but obviously you can't count on those for very much. I certainly don't have the belief that even the gas masks will prevent anything. It's just hedging my bets.

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All that said, I am not paranoid. I don't even have anxiety over it. Those things I mentioned would only come into play if things went extremely bad. My life wouldn't be very different if I had to stay indoors for months on end, so long as utilities continue to operate. Even if the supply chain broke down, I would probably be better off staying indoors than trying to bug out to somewhere else.

One other thing I'm doing is trying to sell off a high value items I've been holding on to, but I'm selling them off now because the money could save me from strife if there's widespread infection and my job totally falls apart.

I live in HK, so we're already living through this.

I've basically been working remotely. I haven't used public transport since CNY. We do not go out at all, unless it is necessary.

The main concern is the mask shortage. We probably go through 4 masks a week, and we generally only go out twice a week right now strictly for the essentials. We will need to get more soon, or we will run out before April.

Maintaining a high standard of hygiene is something people tend to do already in HK, but it's more important than ever right now. We thoroughly clean our flat every Saturday morning and wash hands whenever handling something unhygienic or just in general. As the virus can spread through waste water systems, we flush out unpumped drains as well. When buying products, we only use e-payment to avoid loose change. Most places have gloves in addition to masks, and have hand sanitizer, so there's no excuse to not use these things.

HK does not have a large supply buffer due to the small spaces. If demand for a good spikes, places will run out quickly, and it generally takes 1-2 weeks for something to get back. So we also try to get as much as we need ahead of time, but space for storing lots of food here is limited.

I'm making preparations, but I think I'm going to have to make even more. Having one child under two, and another just about to be born, I really can't afford their exposure, when they'll still be in a developmental phase that leaves them especially prone to permanent damage.

By not having kids.

Joking, but although we are well prepared for isolation (work mostly from home, live in the countryside in one of the remotest countries in the world, have off-grid solar and 3 rainwater tanks and could probably forage enough to live for a long time from fishing and gathering), all of that is undone by having a school aged kid.

That means unavoidable contact with a wide group of other kids, from a variety of different home situations, several of whom may have runny noses etc. at any point in time.

For those of you who think the odds of dying from this outbreak are low: you're probably right. However, rolling the dice with any kind of pneumonia is a bad idea. Viral pneumonia opens you up to potentially acquiring a secondary bacterial pneumonia infection, which have much higher mortality rates. Bacterial pneumonia has a 30% mortality rate.

I had pneumonia in the past, and that experience was the only time I truly believed that I might die. It's a truly incapacitating condition.

Shifting my graduate students from other projects to work on coronavirus work.

When Ebola was kicking off a few years ago I had a realization: If you wait to prepare until everyone agrees preparation makes sense then it's too late. That said the prepper mindset is a slippery slope... so I think the answer is to prepare some but don't get too into it.

I'm obsessed with China and to watch a modern society go from 100 to near zero, is incredible. That concerns me especially living in San Francisco where it seems society is already fragile to say the least.

- I stopped taking public transportation on January 20th; so I'm biking to work now. I'm much more healthy because of this decision

- invested in Gold, Gold stocks and puts expiring March 20th betting against the market (Though I did most of this 2 years ago because of the trade war, and the puts were purchased in December)

- I've got some extra food and water, and lots of purell

- I've called my grandparents and told them, the virus is very dangerous effecting older people [1]. I told them to stock up on food medicine, and if they hear word of it spreading to stay indoors.

[1] https://www.marketwatch.com/story/coronavirus-fatality-rates...

Stupid question (or maybe not?) but theoretically speaking would someone who's willing to take the chance (~96%) benefit from intentionally contracting COVID now, while hospitals (in the US) are still no where near capacity, get treatment, recover and be immune?

I think panic, chaos and social disruption are a more imminent threat than the virus itself at this point. As such I've stocked up on basic household food and supplies so that I don't have to go out into that chaos if it hits. The last thing I want is to be stuck in a huge queue at a petrol (gas) station, or getting punched out over the last turnip at the supermarket. Being prepared means I am one less person contributing to that chaos, one less person driving like a maniac on the roads desperately looking for toilet paper.

I picked up some extra, long-term food from CostCo. Stuff that won't go bad within a few months. Pasta, rice, almonds, some canned goods. Stuff that we'll eat off of for the next few months, regardless of what happens with COVID-19.

I see lots of advice about stocking up on basic supplies and being ready to stay home/indoors for a few weeks up to a couple of months. It sounds like great advice and my family is already building our stores up some from the typical stock.

Does anyone have any advice though for those of us that have to leave the house? My job is literally travel. I don’t have much choice other than a leave of absence or exhausting sick leave etc. My biggest concern is bringing this thing home to my little one.

I booked a trip to Orlando. The wait time for Hagrid's Motorbike ride is under 2 hours!

Bought some extra food; planning on buying some extra dayquil type medication. Fervently hoping that maybe I can donate some of it if things blow over. Maybe getting some extra soap, and especially TP. I'll be the king of the neighborhood if I'm the last one with real TP!

I already have - I manufacture an open source hardware product in Shenzhen and ship the results worldwide using a fulfillment service there.

We shut down as usual for CNY and that shutdown extended longer until the beginning of this week, from my point of view the disruptions are over and my backlog has shipped - though I know that things in Shenzhen are not back to normal (and I'm putting off a manufacturing trip until they are).

It might sound trite — and maybe different info than you’re looking for — but I’ve been doing my best to get a good night’s sleep. And to continue to meditate daily. And to eat healthy. Reducing stress is — so I hear — good for the immune system.

Looking at the overflowing hospitals in Wuhan, I'm preparing for the possibility of being mildly sick at home and not being able to get a bed in the hospital. The best hope is then that somehow we reduce chance of cross-infection inside the family. For that I got:

- Oxygen/HR meter ($15 @ Amazon) to monitor when oxygenation drops real low so that we know we have to get to ER and staying at home is suicidal.

- Some medical gloves, some masks (not hoarding - I think we have ~50 cheap masks from the time Bay Area was full of smoke).

- A ton of tissues and toilet paper.

- UV lamps to disinfect rooms.

- Basic staple foods to last for quite a while.

It's quite likely I won't be able to prevent cross-infection, but at least I've tried.

Since I'm on home dialysis, I'll be pretty screwed if this goes on too long. I usually get medical supplies once a month and have probably an extra 2 weeks of backup supplies. Medications I can usually get 3 months at a time so I have plenty.

In terms of food and home essentials, we tend to shop in bulk normally so just need to make sure we are stocked up.

On the "don't stockpile" pleas:

I think it is fine to stockpile before the crisis hits. We are in the stage where that information will affect investment, how manufactures allocate resources, etc. Basically they will respond with an early stockpile signal by producing more. So when the crisis hits, the supply will be greater.

EG - I think we are still in a stage in US where stockpiling is adding more to the production signal than it is actively causing scarcity.

Stockpiling for the purposes of reselling when the demand spikes doesn't strike me as evil either... It seems like a reasonable market solution for distributing items.

I’ve spent about $300 to prepare, that includes paying a lazy fee ordering some stuff off Amazon, and optimizing for things I’ll eat in April if this all blows over.

Food and water: Added 25 gallons to my normal water delivery

Protein bars, jerky, dehydrated cheese

Peanuts, trail mix, peanut butter

Big sack of rice (save for earthquake kit after April, don’t usually eat rice)

Canned chili, canned stew, canned beans (Carry over to earthquake kit)

Canned tuna

All of this (sans water) is boxed and in a closet.

Supplies:

Already have plenty of n95s

9x12 plastic tarp

Duct tape (specific for this use, not relying on the roll in the drawer)

Bleach

Extra soap and toilet paper

Big thing of hand sanitizer (noticed a lot of out of stock on Amazon)

I already have a significant medical kit.

I’m mostly optimizing for people panicking and it becoming hard to get supplies for a week or two.

When I saw the last thread about people's guesses about where this is going (the one about the Tokyo Olympics possible cancellation: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22420148), I thought the next one should be:

Ask HN: Do you have COVID-19?

This is much better, less alarmist, but I think we'll need the one above sooner or later. BTW, I'm in the camp thinking it will be inevitable, and last week we stockpiled about 1 month worth of food and supplies. If/when it hits our area, we can just stay home.

Things are simpler for me than for many, since I am retired.

- Planning purchases for hunkering down for a few weeks: Food, water, batteries, water purifier, battery-powered radio, hand-crank power generator for radio, etc.

- Sold 50% of my stock holdings.

- Putting a large amount cash in my checking account.

- Getting a smaller amount of cash (paper) to have at home.

I found this post useful "So you think you’re about to be in a pandemic?" : https://virologydownunder.com/so-you-think-youve-about-to-be...

I've been going to the airport shaking hands with everyone arriving from China and Italy. That way I'll get infected before everyone else and get first pick on hospital beds.

I recently returned from Asia and completed a 14-day self quarantine. I was there most of Jan and Feb, when the virus news was emerging.

The area I was in became highly xenophobic. It was disturbing to watch.

90% of prevention is just boosting the immune system, washing hands, and not touching your face.

Carry hand cleanser everywhere and use it frequently.

When I felt a scratch in my throat I'd stop by a 7 Eleven, buy a $1 bottle of gin, and gargle.

I contemplated actually consuming the gin. But that would take a toll on the immune system :-)

just typed a novel then decided against it. everyone needs to make their own decisions about their preparedness. For me, I’m preparing for (not the worst, but bad enough to keep me at home for several weeks). Hoping for the best.

-Stocked up on food/water -Stocked up my medicine cabinet -Reduced my exposure to stocks by 75% -Turned off all automated investments -Consuming zerohedge via RSS for news ahead of the normal cycle -not trusting a word of any government mouthpiece

I work in manufacturing sector and this can become a real serious issue for everyone. So many things are made in China that we might see some supply issues. This will have an affect on literally everything we buy in the US. We might see some interesting price spikes.

I don't even know what my company will do if we simply cannot fill our orders.

I am preparing to refinance my house though, the virus is really shaking up the stock market and pushing the mortgage rates down.

By listening to "It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" by R.E.M.

Seriously, stressing out about this is going to create more problems than the virus itself. Humans love starting panic parades anytime something scary happens. Best thing to do is not worry about it.

I already maintain a 90+ day supply of food and medications and most consumables/supplies in my homes, as a matter of course. I took the lessons of the Battle of Berlin to heart. I also have a half dozen P99/P100 masks already, for the same reason.

The only specific measure I am taking is stocking up on drinking water, my supplies of which fluctuate between 15 and 30 days as I consume it and periodically reorder. I am bumping that to 60 on the off chance that there is a major pandemic.

I am one of the high-mortality-risk groups for any respiratory ailment (which is why I religiously get flu shots each year), so it’s entirely possible I will just stay home for a few weeks/months while I wait for any potential outbreak to blow over.

The best way to prepare for COVID-19 is to already be prepared for a wide variety of civic disruptions.

Have enough food and water on hand to shelter in place for up to 2 weeks. Never let your gasoline dip below a quarter tank. Have some paperback books and candles on hand. Have some duct tape and plastic drop cloths. Keep some camping gear. Practice not panicking. Keep a bottle of plain, unscented bleach on hand, and practice diluting it to 10% of the bottle concentration.

If you don't already have supplies specific to COVID-19, the desperate and the hoarders have probably already snapped up what you might want, and the opportunists reselling it at a 400% markup.

I put together this doc (https://awesome-covid-19.github.io/) in response to 2mo of obsessing over the emerging virus and needing to share what I knew in the form of actionable items for the average person (re all my friends and coworkers freaking out on monday).

Its intended to be a kind of emotional preparation as much as physical, and a lot of it is just priming and practicing awareness.

If you see anything thats missing, needs updating/correction,etc please open a PR!

Sign up for the American Red Cross, disaster response. ARC is as organized as a volunteer-driven humanitarian organization can be. Once your family is secure, you can help others. Do not expect government to take care of basic needs. Federal, state, and municipal government can only do so much.

Don't bother responding to me with your opinion about misappropriation of funds. I spent a month volunteering in Louisiana after Katrina, taking days off without pay. Volunteers are always in short supply. The ARC is a vital institution.

I was thinking about this thread and came up with a potential useful suggestion.

We use our phones quite a bit. In hospitals, they are considered pretty dirty because the pick up a lot of germs.

We do not always have the opportunity to wash hands and their is a good chance we transfer germs to our phones.

I thought it might make sense to wipe the phone down at the end of the day with a chlorox wipe or rubbing alcohol. Then immediately wash your hands.

Side note, I tend not to handle those wipes directly as the chemicals are not great for your skin.

Not at all. I think the media is overestimating the effects of this virus. The world will realise that soon and everyone will calm down. I can see this effect right now in Italy. I in one of the affected regions and while a few people have been queueing to empty shelves at the supermarket, I'll go tomorrow for a normal weekly grocery shopping. Supermarkets are fully stocked again and everyone is doing well. The main issue is in people's mind, at least right now.

- similar to preparing for an earthquake (in SF Bay Area): food, water, propane, gas cooker, first-aid.

- dozens of N95 respirators, which may or may not help...

- lots of mini hand sanitizers carried in cars, backpacks, jackets.

- watching for local news.

- avoid shopping in stores, started using Amazon fresh.

- during weekends, take kids to outdoor state parks/recreation areas instead of museums, zoo, malls where have lots of people.

- technically as software engineers both my wife and I can work from home, but we are still going to the office.

I'm chilling. I have doctor's orders to not lift or bend until April... whereupon I travel through multiple international airports to visit my ailing grandparents. I'm not expecting World War Z zombie worm-hordes, but maybe I should have my care taker grab an extra box of rice the next time they go shopping for me.

Just stocked up on more food to last a month. Additional items that might be hard to find if mass buyouts ensue at stores like toiler paper, kitchen towels, cleaning supplies, anti-bacterial wipes.

I always make sure I have at least 3/4ths of a tank of gas in my car.

Stuff like a decent first-aid kit plus some batteries.

For entertainment, making sure I have enough movies, ebooks, and music downloaded in-case the internet goes down but electricity is up.

I'm only envisioning that the local government might declare a state of emergency which means working from home, closing schools, possibly public transit, and having the local stores completely sold out of necessities.

No water as I rely on tap water.

I'm working under the assumption that if things get bad under "lock-down," it'll only last three weeks. I live in a small apartment and I'm unable to prepare for any prolonged period of time (3+ months).

If society were to collapsed I am not prepared at all.

Tokyo local government has a good english guide, tho it's meant for earthquakes mostly the preparation list is really good

https://www.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/english/guide/bosai/index.html

I have a couple weeks of food and water, which I bought slowly one day at a time so the store had plenty of time to restock, and they did.

I have a few N95 masks. These I got late at a painting supply place. I have a great deal of surgical masks and disposable gloves, which I bought years ago.

On order is a UV disinfecting chamber to enable mask reuse.

I'm not getting full body suits or protecting against long term electricity loss as that's certainly possible but if it comes to that might as well just die really.

I have a lot of guns and ammo to protect against supply attacks, but didn't have to buy more of that, that is something I already had anyway.

I completely cashed out of the stock market last week. Will result in a very large tax bill for the non-401k part. Was hoping to cash that stuff in during retirement instead.

I've stopped eating in restaurants and only go to the store during hours when few people are there.

I joke with coworkers that I want to get it on my own terms. Since the death rate is relatively low, I'd rather get it first when the medical infrastructure is not overwhelmed and that I'm 100% healthy. I can even scheduled ahead and finish some projects to work around the virus.

Not a damned thing. I'm actually traveling outside the country (USA) in two days.

Wouldn't it be prudent to try and get the virus as soon as possible?

Apparently, it's not that dangerous of a disease assuming you have medical care available.

So, now is the time to get it... when you have the entire intensive care unit st your disposal. If you hide out in your bunker, wear your mask, and follow the CDC's advice, you'll probably not get it for a few months. But when you do, instead of having a nice empty intensive care unit at your disposal, you'll be laying in a hospital corridor, unattended, surrounded by body bags and moaning patients.

So, my preparation is to book a trip to Wuhan with a layover in Italy. Tickets are super cheap.

Keep the gas tank full all the time. Escape the city before the lockdown - go to your summerhouse or your parents.

Don't stay in the city. Break the lockdown if necessary. Food shortages and violence will come quickly. There is always oversupply of food in farmlands and shortages in cities.

Keep some food supplies at hand (beans, rice, meat in the freezer). And some gold in small bars.

Few weeks ago, before it all started I have purchased 50 ordinary masks, some surgical disinfector and also two military grade masks with biological weapon filters.

But most important - keep up good spirits and wash your hands. My Mom prays.

I'm not.

If I get it, I get it. I'll probably be fine. I'm a healthy twenty-something. If it hits hard, I'll wear my lightly used N95 respirator I use for housework, and gloves everywhere I go, hand sanitizer if I don't, limit my travel and exposure to the public.

If it gets epidemically bad, I'll hide in my basement with my ham radios and 2mo of food stores for my wife and cats until it all blows over.

I have been considering withdrawing a large amount of cash, just in case.

My wife cancelled a holiday in the Far East. The airline seemed to be overwhelmed by people doing the same thing, so probably the time to short airline stocks.

We bought a bunch of extra food, food that we'll eat anyways. We don't want to have to deal with empty shelves later on because people are panicking.

My last order of assembled PCB's has been on hold since late December. I don't even know of an affordable alternative that isn't also in China.

Sleep more! There was some study that found that reducing your sleep from 9 hours to 5.5 hours reduces your immune system by 1/2. I don’t have a citation handy but whenever I got sick in college, it was usually during final exam weeks when I had to pull late nighters. Sleeping is the single best thing you can do for your immune system and your immune system is your last line of defense.

I purchased 4200 cans of an assortment of low sodium soup and vegetables, at a discounted lot rate (just under 90¢/ea). They range from 220 to 300 cal per can (so about 3-4 cans per day per person).

If this all blows over, since these expire in about 20 months, I’ll just donate them to a dog shelter in the nearby ghetto. The dogs love that stuff.

My preparation so far is the same as earthquake preparation - to be sure that I have a supply of food and water for a few days. It seems like a pretty reasonable generic preparation for disaster. I am interested in doing more, but it isn't really clear to me what else would be useful.

A few weeks of super boring food, in case of supply chain disruptions and the inevitable panic and wholesale stripping of food by panicky people.

Water and power will be fine, a gaggle of soccer mom's buying out the whole supermarket is more likely depending on how the media portrays the problem.

Not preparing at all.

The virus is expanding just because of bad common sense from people who ignore the basic ABC of infections: stay at home if you're ill, do avoid meeting as much people as possible, but this seems to be hard to be understood by many

You just need to look at China for its worse. Prob no worse than what’s happening there. Prepare accordingly, don’t hoard 4 months worth of stuff, if things does get that worse you have bigger things to worry about

I always tend to have enough food at home that would last me two weeks easily. I would fill my bathtub in case things start to get more serious. That should be enough drinking water for some time.

- Use the proper type of mask. Wear the mask correctly. Some masks are effective only for a limited amount of time.

- Cover your eyes.

- Wash your hands.

- Do not touch the area around your eyes, nose or mouth without washing your hands first.

The usual. Eat well, exercise, stay healthy, best practice hygeine.

going to a tech conference!....

Extra water, food, toiletries, etc.

If nothing happens, I just won't have to shop as much.

If something does happen, I can survive a few months without having to go outside.

Personally, i'm not taking it seriously at all. I'm in my 20s. If I get it I'll take some sinus medication and ibuprofen.

Yes. Just bought quite a bit of canned food and bottled water today. May pick up a solar-based generator (100-200W).

I’m stocking up on soylent type powder. That plus water can probably keep me alive for a fair amount of time

I am buying all the twinkies i can

Today I just bought 2 weeks stock of food for me and my mom. We don’t eat much. (NYC here)

100 gal of water and growing, 1,000 rounds of JHP, rice and red lentils. Bring it.

Corona can be spread by fecal contact so refrain from a2m, o-after-a, etc.

I'll admit I bought a few extra groceries on my last trip to the store.

Buying stock while the market is low.

I'm already a little bit of a prepper, so really just "more of the same" here. Since there's not really a cure/vaccine for the specific disease yet, there's not much to do on the medical front specifically.

That said, being ill with covid19 sounds like it would be similar to the flu for many people, so I'll stock up on OTC medicines that provide some symptom relief / make it possible to sleep. Mucinex, Nyquil, things of that nature.

Beyond that... I'll add to my stock of non-perishable foods: rice, beans, beef jerky, trail mix, and such-like. I plan to stock up on some bottled water as well, but I don't focus so much on water since A. it's heavy/bulky and hard to store and B. I live near many natural freshwater streams/creeks/lakes/rivers/etc. and I would rather focus on a "water purification capability" than on just stocking large amounts of water. To that end, I already keep some water purification supplies. But the thing I'm thinking about now, is building a distilling outfit. That way, as long as I have water (fresh or salt) available, and fire making supplies and firewood, I can make relatively clean water.

I also plan to add a little more to my stockpile of candles, lamp oil, batteries, etc. And I'll probably use this as an excuse to add to my (small) stash of 9mm ammo as well.

Ammo

Costco.

I found this Atlantic Monthly article written by a public health expert to be helpful: https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/02/covid-vac...

Extra Potatoes, milk and oil, boyo.. Thats about it.

This is very likely to overwhelm not just medical infrastructure, but shut down supply chains for basic necessities for months. If the pandemic hits, most businesses will shutter, just like in China. It is prudent to stock up now for 1-2 months of cheap, non- perishable foods like rice and beans (complete protein together) at a minimum. There's just no excuse not to now if you make a tech salary - a couple hundred dollars and you have an emergency stash which is good for years.

This isn't just about personal protection - the whole community and nation can expect better outcomes of we stagger preparations, lessening the chance and impact of everyone running to the store at the same time. There is no question now that this is an unprecedented event, now is the time to prepare to mitigate risk.

Going to a tech conference!...

@dang can we please lock this thread, as it seems to be creating more FUD than there is already. I think I haven't been so stressed out about reading anything on the internet in the last few years as much as this ask hn. Edit: spelling

1) Obtain prescription opioids in case I become fatally ill

2) Learn difficult social skills, such as refusing to help a sick neighbor

3) Consider buying an autoclave

4) Learn to cook with quinoa and lentils in case of a rice and bean shortage