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

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

#161

Post by undersuit »

thinkmassive wrote: post #72
nabla9 wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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'm also a long-time supporter of these. A bonus of #2 is that it puts everyone on equal ground, no arguments about leaving the seat up or down.

Yes, it's my go to for the stupid argument as a pet owner.

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

#162

Post by ryan-allen »

geophile wrote: post #3

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.

Why would you sell 50% of your stock?

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

#163

Post by runjake »

marshray wrote: post #159
kempbellt wrote: post #154

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.

> 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. This is absolutely, uncategorically, false.

... because... ?

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

#164

Post by jerf »

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…

"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."

Likewise. To some extent, I recommend doing some prep precisely so that you don't have to panic. If you have some basic prep, you can worry a lot less about "what if earthquake" or "what if power goes out for a week" or "what if pandemic", because you know that while you may not be prepared for everything and it may be hard, at least you're going to be caught completely flat-footed.

Also, I would just feel like an idiot sitting there in my house in week 3, wishing I had X, when X was like $12 or whatever trivial sum just a month ago. For values of X like "soap" or "shampoo" or something, I'm not even "saving money". I was just too lazy to make sure I had a stock on hand, despite literally months of warning this quarantine was likely coming. I'm trying to help future-me to not feel like an idiot.

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

#166

Post by misterprime »

paulgb wrote: post #133
rimliu wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most of that's going is overreacting people hoarding supplies.

Ironically, when I considered the likely outcomes, the one that convinced me to stock up on food was not actual supply chain distruptions (which I see as possible but fairly unlikely), but that mass hording will lead to shortages (which I see as very likely).

Kinda like a run on the banks. There may be no good reason for it, but it's still gonna happen.

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

#167

Post by SuddsMcDuff »

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.

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

#168

Post by millettjon »

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…

You can maximize immune system functioning by making sure you get proper nutrition and plenty of sleep.

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

#169

Post by PeterisP »

dangom wrote: post #41
cronix wrote: post #31

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 par…

Definitely good to be prepared, but AFAIK there is no such thing as being "statistically overdue" for an earthquake.

I'm not that informed about geology, but as far as I understand, earthquakes are not independent random events but a result of stress accumulation on faultlines over time and released in sudden bursts i.e. earthquakes; and if a particular faultline has not had a release in a long time, then this means that when it happens, the next earthquake is likely to be stronger.
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