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CDC outlines what closing schools, businesses would look like in US pandemic

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Re: CDC outlines what closing schools, businesses would look like in US pandemic

#71
post #8

Here are some actual documents on preparing for an influenza pandemic that the CDC is repurposing to prepare people for the coronavirus because of the similarity to the spread of the flu. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/php/pandemic-prepa... States will have their own influenza preparedness plans that they will probably be following for the coronavirus as well. One helpful thing that they advise governors t…

Thanks for posting these. I'm putting some time into preparing my family for any potential quarantine situations here in the US. These guides are aimed at policymakers and government officials. Have you, by chance, found any practical guides for what individuals can do to increase the resiliency of their households? I assume this is all very similar to having a well-stocked earthquake kit (which we do have), but I'm…

- Wash your hands.

- If you're in a cold climate, be aware of how to drain your heating (if you use water) or water supplies within the house in the event of an extended power outage.

- Have a normal kit.

- Keep the cars gassed up.

- Avoid travel to crowded places and aircraft.

Re: CDC outlines what closing schools, businesses would look like in US pandemic

#72

We are witnessing a massive geopolitical event. This could be a chance for the U.S. to reassert it's global hegemony - China has been brought to its knees over this virus, and a critical weakness of globalism has been exposed, the dependence that comes with offshoring too much production. This could drive the return of manufacturing jobs to the U.S. Rumors abound in China about party members openly criticizing the go…

Can you cite evidence of governments that were overthrown or even moderately affected by the Spanish Flu? It was a terrible epidemic but most effects seem to have been at the personal or micro-economic level.

Re: CDC outlines what closing schools, businesses would look like in US pandemic

#73

We are witnessing a massive geopolitical event. This could be a chance for the U.S. to reassert it's global hegemony - China has been brought to its knees over this virus, and a critical weakness of globalism has been exposed, the dependence that comes with offshoring too much production. This could drive the return of manufacturing jobs to the U.S. Rumors abound in China about party members openly criticizing the go…

What happens if the next viral outbreak occurs in the US? How is putting factories in one arbitrary geographic location any safer than putting them in another arbitrary location?

If anything, this isn’t an argument against offshoring, it’s an argument for offshoring your factories across as many different countries as possible so you have less concentrated exposure to a specific country.

Re: CDC outlines what closing schools, businesses would look like in US pandemic

#74

We are witnessing a massive geopolitical event. This could be a chance for the U.S. to reassert it's global hegemony - China has been brought to its knees over this virus, and a critical weakness of globalism has been exposed, the dependence that comes with offshoring too much production. This could drive the return of manufacturing jobs to the U.S. Rumors abound in China about party members openly criticizing the go…

You should try writing a sci-fi thriller novel.

Re: CDC outlines what closing schools, businesses would look like in US pandemic

#75
post #15

I'm lucky enough to work remotely so if schools do close, I can still earn a living while the kids are at home. I can't even imagine what kind of hell it's going to bring parents if schools shut down for any extended period of time. Same thing with small businesses - shutting them down is really going to hurt local economies. In my city, small business are about to shut down because of construction on a main stretch…

> I can't even imagine what kind of hell it's going to bring parents if schools shut down for any extended period of time. It would only be hell because its illegal, not because it's actually a problem. There is no good reason for why you couldn't leave a healthy school-aged child home alone for the duration of a workday. That is, if you've actually raised them well. Billions of people around the world have been rais…

> only a few western countries police this

I don't think this is true at all. I actually immigrated to the US from Iran and even decades ago it wasn't acceptable there either. There was always a parent, grandparent, family member, or neighbor to look after the children. That includes rural areas.

> That is, if you've actually raised them well.

I don't think it's that simple. I have two kids and the younger one is completely independent requiring less supervision while the older one is dependent on us for everything and needs constant supervision. Their personalities are so drastically different that defining "raising them well" can mean basically anything with hundreds of dynamic factors.

I watch a documentary series on YouTube called "Most Dangerous Ways to School" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tg0ipCdiQQ) where kids travel to school alone for via dangerous terrain, but in most episodes the parents acknowledge how many kids die attempting to do such things and how dangerous it is. It's far from safe.

Re: CDC outlines what closing schools, businesses would look like in US pandemic

#76
post #23

So I see this information from the CDC and news outlets, but the head of the World Health Organization seems to be saying something quite different: “For the moment, we are not witnessing the uncontained global spread of this virus, and we are not witnessing large-scale severe disease or death.” https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/02/who-tries-to-calm-ta...

The WHO is still using Chinese figures without any sort of disclaimer. The director of the WHO has been accused by the new York times of covering up multiple epidemics in how home country[1]. Hopefully this virus will upend the blind Faith that people recently have come to put into international establishments. 1. https://cloverchronicle.com/2020/01/30/world-health-organiza...

Just checking but what concrete alternatives would you recommend to international organizations, imperfect though they may be?

Re: CDC outlines what closing schools, businesses would look like in US pandemic

#77
Basically every household should already have, regardless of the origin of the disaster: 1 month of clean drinking water or reliable (tested) filtration devices and a impure water source (local streams likely to have various bacteria that will make you sick). 1 month of food that requires minimum water and fuel to cook (quick oats > slow cook oats). Enough fuel to cook that food (most of your food should not require cooking). A reliable camping stove that you have already tested. Plenty of ways to start a fire/stove. Warm clothes, blankets, med kit, sleeping bags. Soap.

I've lived for 30 days in alaska on a glacier with only what I could carry in a large pack; water and fuel were the largest by weight, sleeping bag/tent/clothes were the largest by volume. By the end, campers had devolved into small groups of people who didn't share food.

Re: CDC outlines what closing schools, businesses would look like in US pandemic

#78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really, other than limiting spread from someone who is potentially infected and making it harder for someone to touch their face (virus on hands getting into body via eyes/nose).

N95 masks will also limit the spread from someone who is actually infected, too. So the masks will, when used correctly help limit all spread and I am not sure why you say "not really". But I should add, the CDC only recommends face masks for the infected and limits recommendation of N95 respirators to healthcare providers and those in workplace settings.

People generally aren’t going to use them correctly, aren’t going to change them frequently enough, are likely to touch their face frequently if not used to the mask, and aren’t nearly as concerned about infecting others so much as protecting themselves.

Should you go buy some? Probably jot

Re: CDC outlines what closing schools, businesses would look like in US pandemic

#79
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven't seen any good guides for individual and household preparedness, but I think that this guide "Interim Guidance for Preventing the Spread of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Homes and Residential Communities" ( https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/guidance-preve... ), especially the precautions section, can be a useful place to see what would be needed to prepare. Some things to have besides fo…

Do the N95 face masks that you can buy at the grocery even do anything to prevent the spread of coronavirus?

my take on this is that those masks are probably useless, and even if they were useful, most members of the public will not utilize them correctly.

so, i advise people to leave the face masks of all types for utilization by our healthcare workers, as there will soon be a shortage and as a member of the public you should mostly be sitting at home rather than wandering around areas with other people anyway.

Re: CDC outlines what closing schools, businesses would look like in US pandemic

#80

Here are some actual documents on preparing for an influenza pandemic that the CDC is repurposing to prepare people for the coronavirus because of the similarity to the spread of the flu. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/php/pandemic-prepa... States will have their own influenza preparedness plans that they will probably be following for the coronavirus as well. One helpful thing that they advise governors t…

What are the chances that residential electricity, gas or water get shut off as a result of an outbreak in North America? I live in a mid-sized town and we have enough dry beans and cereals to last a few months, but without hot water it would be a week at most.

Can you make them in cold water, just takes longer? Not sure.

Or heat them in the sun? Sun tea beans??

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