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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?

#411

Post by lapinot »

jacquesm wrote: post #272
disabled wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you for acknowledging this. I really appreciate it. The issue is that the adhesive from tape is a form of glue. It attracts and keeps hold of germs. Plus, it is extremely hard to get fully off in terms of disinfection purposes. I had a central line (dialysis catheter) in my chest for 4 months for a procedure called plasma exchange. You cannot take a shower with an exposed central line. A single drop of water on…

You got very lucky. Lottery level winning lucky.

Basic lottery is 1 in 14 million winning. I guess "citation needed", having that exact winner on hn is pretty low probability. This is an irrational comment in an irrational subthread. I'm not sure adhesive tape doesn't have high germs density but i'm pretty sure there is little correlation between your finger sticking to a material and a germ sticking to that same material. This message has no positive outcome besides making feel good while i press "reply", it's not intended for you to read it, it's intended for me to re-read it while thinking of this moment.

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

#412

Post by allovernow »

dfsegoat wrote: post #358
allovernow wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>The annual Flu, MERS and SARS were far far worse This is NOT TRUE. I urge you to stop relying on the news and look at the literature that is being published in real time. I don't have time for a full response but 15% of cases require ICU care to survive. There are less than 100k ICU beds in the U.S. and the virus spreads 2-5x (R0 estimates from 3 up to 8 depending on source) more readily than SARS or MERS or the 191…

What led you to believe I cited the news? I cite the WHO and CDC where I could. If I am interpreting that information incorrectly based on my previous experience in epidemiology, please educate me. - SARS case fatality rate = 15% (WHO - 1) - MERS case fatality rate = 34.4% (WHO - 2) - COVID19 case fatality rate = 2.3% (WHO - 3^) 1- https://www.who.int/csr/sars/en/WHOconsensus.pdf 2- https://www.who.int/emergencies/me…

The numbers from China are totally innaccurate and underestimating the infection rate by at least an order of magnitude for a multitude of reasons. The WHO has been irresponsibly mirroring the Chinese numbers from the start and frankly cannot be trusted - the director of the WHO was accused by the NYT years ago of covering up 3 cholera outbreaks in his home country of Ethiopia.

China has been overwhelmed. They ran out of testing kits weeks ago. They have been turning people away from hospitals for months. Major infection areas have been under lockdown, where people are not allowed to leave their homes or drive, even for emergency trips to the hospital. Their official reported diagnosed cases are nowhere the true numbers. They've also punished doctors for reporting new cases. It's all a giant sham.

This pandemic is revealing just how incompetent global organizations and news media are.

Edit: I just read that the WHO also has some incentive to downplay the virus - $425 million in catastrophe bonds were issued that may default if the virus is officially labeled a pandemic...can't seem to find the actual default conditions but there's a clear conflict of interest here. https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/pandemic-bon...

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

#413

Post by perl4ever »

ravenstine wrote: post #404
rococode wrote: post #313

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I can give some tips on what I think is good inexpensive food to get in case anyone is interested. I'm interested! I've mostly heard of canned foods and the military-style rations / dried meals that last many years (although those are actually a bit pricey, I think).

The dried food and MREs aren't bad. But they can be overkill, or too heavily relied upon. I guess it's a nice idea that there will always be a stockpile of food ready to go, but I figured out that I'd rather keep around some regular food that keeps well that I can slowly rotate through. Don't get me wrong, I think that ration food is great if you're going to be mobile. I keep dried ration meals inside a backpack for…

I have a fireplace, a gas furnace, and an electric grid connection, but only one of these is definitely functional at the moment. If I were to stock up on supplies, I would have to know my situation in the event stuff goes kerblooie. Do I have water? Is it hot? Does it seem clean but actually is full of bacteria?

Often people recommend that you prepare for disasters by buying things that you will periodically use up, so they don't get really stale or spoiled. I really can't face eating the amount of spam that it would require to insure against a significant disaster, assuming there isn't one. Or peanut butter.

If I have water and the ability to cook, potatoes seem like pretty much the cheapest source of calories that won't quickly spoil as long as you keep them where it's dark and cool. I wonder why people don't recommend stocking up on them?

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

#414

Post by remarkEon »

craftinator wrote: post #396
radicalbyte wrote: post #324

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Talk to any bodybuilder and they'll tell you that for every 4kg of fat you lose you'll also drop 1kg of muscle. So yes it is mainly fat but some muscles will be lost at the same time, especially if you have a high muscle mass.

As a Marine who has gone through many, many building and leaning cycles, I call BS on this. When you drop that fat, you aren't actually losing muscular tissue (at least not much). I've gotten down to Olympian levels of body fat, 9-10%, and what you are losing besides the fat is water weight. Your muscles shrink because they hold in less blood; your body regulates this to keep blood pressure normalized with all the de…

Yeah, came here to say this (was in the Army). My experience is the same. When it started to happen you could actually smell it (smells like ammonia ... like cat urine, almost).

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

#416

Post by tosser »

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.

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

#417

Post by allovernow »

orand wrote: post #409
allovernow wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>The annual Flu, MERS and SARS were far far worse This is NOT TRUE. I urge you to stop relying on the news and look at the literature that is being published in real time. I don't have time for a full response but 15% of cases require ICU care to survive. There are less than 100k ICU beds in the U.S. and the virus spreads 2-5x (R0 estimates from 3 up to 8 depending on source) more readily than SARS or MERS or the 191…

Where can I find "the literature that is being published in real time"?

Nature and pubmed for starters. Search 2019 ncov. Most of the papers were originally being collected and circulated on 4chan - honestly, as vile as a place as it is, the threads have been 1-2 months ahead of media. More recently reddit.com/r/coronavirus has popped up which is sharing papers and there's a more official subreddit who's name escapes me.

This is an event which illuminates the folly of relying excessively on media and government. I think it's easy to forget that these organizations are managed and staffed by people just like you and me - worse in many cases, as the average person is not exactly sharing research papers with their grandma, so to speak.

Here's one of the conservative estimates for R0 straight out of China. There's another which estimates 6-8 but I'll leave that to you to look for.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S120197122...

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

#418

Post by perl4ever »

ravenstine wrote: post #92
beachy wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Yes, you're technically burning through your body's food supply when you fast. While that has survival implications, that's not really the point. The average American overeats like crazy and is addicted to junk food. Fasting helps to break that addiction so that you're more likely to use your crisis food wisely and not feel hunger pangs. When I tell people that I comfortably fast for 4 or more days, they think it's c…

You seem to think it's obvious that you last longer if you ration yourself rather than eat until the food is gone and then burn fat. That sounds reasonable, but I can't exactly think of a logical argument why. Why do you think it should be true?

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

#419

Post by _bxg1 »

throwaway122378 wrote: post #397

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?

It would be pretty selfish because you'd become a potential source for other people to get infected

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

#420

Post by perl4ever »

ravenstine wrote: post #332
cat199 wrote: post #264

Earlier quoted context omitted.

since you sound well versed - what would be a good food-free way to get electrolytes?

The best way is to make an electrolyte drink yourself. Here's my recipe: - 2 Liters of water - 1/2 teaspoon of pink salt - 1 teaspoon of potassium chloride - 1/4 teaspoon of food grade epsom salt - Lemon and stevia used sparingly to taste It's not the best tasting thing ever, but you get used to it. Using filtered water will make it much more palatable. I think salts make poor tap water quality more obvious. You can…

One might think pedialyte was the best formulated option, but it tastes terrible in my opinion.
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