Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: How are you preparing for COVID-19 disruptions?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 566 posts

Re: Ask HN: How are you preparing for COVID-19 disruptions?

#81

Post by beachy »

ravenstine wrote: post #63

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 interest…

> I'm fasting regularly, which will realistically extend my food supply.

Isn't fasting the opposite of storing food for an emergency?

Surely storing food on your body as fat is one of the safest and easiest ways to store it.

Re: Ask HN: How are you preparing for COVID-19 disruptions?

#83

Post by mattrp »

gambiting wrote: post #25
geophile wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am assuming that in the next few weeks I will need to be isolated for 3-4 weeks. I am assuming that electricity is mostly on, and water to my home is mostly available, (although possibly tainted -- preparing for that). After that, who knows. Hopefully there will be a vaccine.

Why would the water be tainted?

If water treatment plant can't operate because the workers are sick...I would imagine the first step would be similar to a flooded treatment station -- a boil water condition. Provided you have gas/electric to do that.

We can't speculate at this point what kind/likelihood of a civil emergency we might face with this or any other disaster that hasn't happened yet.

However, having been through Sandy where we had 16 consecutive days of no power or heat and a snowstorm with a foot of snow and fouled treatment facilities with boil alerts, here's my recommendations:

1) Hold 10x24x16oz bottles of water and use them in FIFO. When you finish one flat, you buy a new one and put it on the bottom of the stack. It's not that crazy to hold 2 weeks of drinking water in your pantry/garage. 2) In many places around the world, the sink water isn't treated at all. Have some sterilizer solution available for washing dishes but don't risk drinking water that isn't treated 3) peanut butter has a really long shelf life, easy to store, is really cheap, and if you don't have nut allergies, not a bad source of nutrition. 4) figure out the electrical needs of critical devices - phones/tablets CPAPs, air machines, etc. GoalZero is a pretty user friendly brand of solar / battery combos. 5) get a 100W 12V adaptor for your car. If you need to recharge something that isn't USB, you can use your car as a simple generator. 6) be prepared to live without heat or A/C but if you do have power, make sure your filters are clean. Ask your hvac guy to recommend the max level of HEPA your HVAC can tolerate. 7) have squirt bottles with disinfectant in every room with a sink.. not just normal countertop cleaning stuff. Bleach IIRC needs 7 minutes to achieve a maximum log reduction of bacteria / viruses so keep in mind when you're cleaning, its not possible to kill everything, you're reducing the load of bad things over a period of time.

Re: Ask HN: How are you preparing for COVID-19 disruptions?

#84

Post by lurquer »

pupppet wrote: post #80
lurquer wrote: post #48

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…

No one is certain you can't get it twice.

If your immune system was able to beat it once, it is primed to quickly take it out the second time (probably before you even have symptoms.)

This is the entire premise behind vaccinations.

Regrettably, some viruses-- such as flu -- come in several different strains during a season; an immunity to one may not result in an immunity to another (but, an immunity to any strain of influenza seems to limit the severity of infection with other strains.) And some illnesses -- such a the common-cold -- are caused by several totally different viruses; an immunity to one doesn't make you immune to the 200+ other types of viruses that give you "the cold."

But, I've seen nothing to date indicating there are numerous COVID-19 strain floating around. That would be unusual.

Re: Ask HN: How are you preparing for COVID-19 disruptions?

#85

Post by pupppet »

lurquer wrote: post #84
pupppet wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No one is certain you can't get it twice.

If your immune system was able to beat it once, it is primed to quickly take it out the second time (probably before you even have symptoms.) This is the entire premise behind vaccinations. Regrettably, some viruses-- such as flu -- come in several different strains during a season; an immunity to one may not result in an immunity to another (but, an immunity to any strain of influenza seems to limit the severity of…

Ah, makes sense.

Re: Ask HN: How are you preparing for COVID-19 disruptions?

#86

Post by geophile »

bluGill wrote: post #79
geophile wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know what country you are from, but mine (USA) has lost its ability to set its mind to anything . It can't even be said to have a rational mind any longer.

Don't be so pessimistic. I'm from the USA: we might be divided (and people like you are pushing the divide!), but we still have the ability to get things done when we want to. There just isn't a collective goal pushing us all in one direction. Overall I think it is a good thing. Only by many diverse opinions and goals from many different people can we try everything and see what really works out.

> but we still have the ability to get things done when we want to.

Please provide examples.

- We used to be able to build Hoover Dam. Now it takes literally years to pass a bill to maintain our highways.

- Do I need to remind you what a joke Infrastructure Week has become?

- How are those gun violence stats? Number 1 in the world at something, at least.

- The fastest-growing approach to paying for medical bills, in this country, is a GoFundMe campaign.

- The world financial system was nearly destroyed by inadequately regulated US "finanice industry innovation" in 2008. As Paul Volcker said the following year: “the ATM has been the only useful innovation in banking for the past 20 years”.

- Facebook and Google -- the most successful US companies in history, I think, have destroyed privacy, and are now bringing down democracy. Oh, right, I forgot, Facebook is connecting people. Point for you.

Seriously. What has this country done recently that proves we can do anything productive any longer?

Re: Ask HN: How are you preparing for COVID-19 disruptions?

#87

Post by bronco21016 »

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.

Re: Ask HN: How are you preparing for COVID-19 disruptions?

#88

Post by tmaly »

nabla9 wrote: post #40
tmaly wrote: post #13

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…

General advice for any bug that transfers trough fecal-oral route, not just for COVID-19: 1. Dot's store your toothbrush in the bathroom (at least during the times when you suspect that some family member might get infected). There are fecal matter particles in the bathroom air. You can get the ass-to-mouth transfer in the same household from toothbrushes stored in the bathroom. 2. Close the toilet lid before you flu…

I never thought of toothbrush issue. I keep a cap on my brush and store it in cabinet

Re: Ask HN: How are you preparing for COVID-19 disruptions?

#89

Post by cbHXBY1D »

Buttons840 wrote: post #61
Someone1234 wrote: post #2

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…

Do not overstock on masks or other supplies. Masks especially should be available to the sick. It's ironic that (I'm sure) someone out there will stock up on 10,000 masks and it will cause them to be in even greater danger because the sick people around them will have fewer masks. The CDC recommends that sick people wear masks to keep droplets in, and that people who directly interact with sick people wear masks whil…

2-3 weeks ago people on here were advocating stocking up on masks and selling at a high profit.
Post reply on HN