
Ask HN: How are you preparing for COVID-19 disruptions? - Spellman
See title
======
Tade0
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.

~~~
atarian
Fat is actually one of the last things the body burns during starvation. Your
muscles usually go first.

~~~
liamcardenas
This makes no sense. Why would the body prefer to break down a functional
store of energy when has access to a non-functional one?

~~~
matt-attack
Pretty sure that’s exactly the purpose (evolutionarily speaking) of fat. It’s
an intermittent store of energy to fill in the gaps between the sporadic meals
we evolved eating.

It just makes so much sense that when food is plentiful (peak season) you want
to be able to pack on the fat in order to get you through the cold season when
food is scarce.

~~~
Fnoord
It also makes sense that we eat more heavy, carb-wise, in the winter and
lighter foods in the summer, with spring and autumn being the transitional
periods. Its to sustain our body fat, or move it into the direction of the
next season. A lot of body in the summer makes it hotter (undesired; already
hot), not much body fat in the winter makes it colder (undesired; already
cold).

And it isn't only that. Squirrels even harvest so they got food in winter.
We've also learned to maintain foods, such as sushi with rice, or with salt or
acid so it wouldn't go rancid. Plus, like I said, there's "winter vegetables"
which are high on carbs, low on water.

------
Someone1234
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.

~~~
Buttons840
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 while interacting
with the sick person (to stop projectile droplets I presume). The CDC does not
recommend masks be worn generally.

Masks help remind you not to touch your face, but you can just put tape on
your fingers or something for the same effect (this is just my personal idea).

(This is more of a PSA than a direct reply to your comment.)

~~~
cbHXBY1D
2-3 weeks ago people on here were advocating stocking up on masks and selling
at a high profit.

~~~
riquito
In Italy it's illegal, you cannot hoard or speculate on basic necessities (as
the masks are being considered during the epidemic).

[https://www.repubblica.it/economia/2020/02/26/news/coronavir...](https://www.repubblica.it/economia/2020/02/26/news/coronavirus_la_guardia_di_finanza_da_amazon_ed_ebay_per_le_speculazioni_su_mascherine_e_gel_detergenti-249647637)

~~~
gwright
Perfect way to guarantee shortages. Let the price float and there is an
incentive for businesses to figure out how to increase the supply quickly,
thus causing the price to drop.

The economic theory on this is rock-solid and yet it seems impossible to
educate the general public or government officials regarding the consequences
of price controls.

~~~
jfim
It's not as clear cut as you say.

For example, the large increase in price creates perverse incentives to reduce
the available supply and make it available at a higher price (eg. buying all
the masks at $n and reselling them at a price greater than n).

A higher price also encourages counterfeiting; making fake masks that sell for
$1 isn't that profitable, but if they sell for $50, there's definitely more of
an incentive to do so.

~~~
gwright
The problem of low-quality or defective merchandise exists at any price point.
Adding price controls doesn't prevent that problem and in fact would encourage
black markets where defective merchandise is less likely to be detected by
consumers or regulators.

------
Recursing
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...](https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-
coronavirus-2019/advice-for-public) especially the part about "How to cope
with stress during 2019-nCoV outbreak"

~~~
kempbellt
Thank you for linking this.

I commented below about doing what I am doing to _not worry_ about it.
Naturally it and was immediately dismissed by a panic induced response.

FUD is extremely powerful people.

If you want to stock up on some extra water and food - cool beans. But stay
conscious of your own fears and manage your stress levels. Do what you can to
stay calm about things and handle your emotions wisely.

~~~
cactus2093
I'm wondering how realistic a water or power shutoff is, those seem like much
bigger concerns for a hurricane or earthquake. For covid-19 it seems like the
municipal authorities will be able to keep at least the handful of people
working that are required to keep the grids up (even if just about everyone
gets infected, it sounds like ~80% of cases only have minor symptoms).

Restaurants shutting down and grocery stores running low on food seems like a
more likely scenario.

Regardless, I've now stocked up on 2 weeks of water and about the same of
food. Which is a good idea anyway for earthquake preparedness, but something
I'd never gotten around to actually doing. So I'm feeling a good balance of
prepared but not too stressed about it.

~~~
sampsonitify
> 2 weeks of water and about the same of food

Everyone keeps saying that, but what does it mean? What food did you buy, and
how much water? I can't get a handle on how much that is. I'm not panicing, at
all, I just want to have enough when everyone ELSE panics.

I also hate the thought of boredom, so I'm trying every canned fish I can to
see what I like, so I at least have some variety and flavour for those two
weeks.

~~~
lm28469
> Everyone keeps saying that, but what does it mean?

It's not rocket science. Take what you eat in a day and multiply it by 14. Go
for non perishable things of course (pasta, rice, lentils, canned fruits etc.)

I mean, realistically speaking you could probably go two weeks with <1k cal a
day without much trouble.

------
ttcbj
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...](https://www.amazon.com/Great-Influenza-Deadliest-Pandemic-
History/dp/0143036491/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1W28KGSKAFEWB&keywords=the+great+influenza+john+barry&qid=1582752359&sprefix=The+Great+Influenz%2Caps%2C162&sr=8-1)

~~~
jackjeff
I was under the impression that the Spanish flu was very different from the
regular flu and COVID-19, because it was the young/old people that survived it
and the healthy 20-50 year old that died the most. Most people died of the
Spanish Flu because of their immune response. It looks like COVID-19 is really
mild* for lots of people in that age group.

Am I missing something? Did the Spanish flu start like COVID-19 and evolved
later?

~~~
spanxx
I wish people stop calling that Spanish Flu where it's totally unrelated to
Spain...

~~~
tcbasche
Yeah! Coronavirus doesn't even have anything to do with the beer!

~~~
BrianHenryIE
Since you made me wonder:

> corona: "crown" (from latin corōna, meaning "crown")

> virus: "poisonous secretion" (from latin vīrus, meaning "venom" or
> "poisonous secretion")

> Coronavirus, the virus responsible for 30% of common colds, as well as SARS,
> has the appearance of a crown (corona) under electron microscopy, due to the
> spike proteins that coat the viral surface. Viruses, being so small, might
> have been thought of before they were discovered, to be poisonous secretions
> (virus) of unknown origin, hence their name.

[https://medicaletymology.fandom.com/wiki/Coronavirus](https://medicaletymology.fandom.com/wiki/Coronavirus)

------
RegnisGnaw
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.

~~~
alasdair_
>Refill your medication(s), that's the biggest one.

I take a prescription medication that is a controlled substance. I feel like a
criminal each time I fill it. I'm only given exactly the amount I need for the
next 30 days and it routinely causes problems when I need to travel out of
state around the time of my next refill.

I really wish there was some way of saying "I've been taking this stuff for
years, I've clearly never abused it, please give me some buffer for
emergencies."

~~~
sneak
If I were in your shoes I would go to the black market and would secretly
maintain a 90-180 day supply buffer, pandemic or no.

This is clearly a case of a law that may have been well-intentioned majorly
infringing upon your rights.

~~~
exikyut
The problem with this is that it will cause a practical relief effect that
will create a small but consistent reordering latency. "You don't seem too
$symptomatic today, how did you handle the past N days?"

This could be easily discerned through individual scrutiny or large-scale
automated analysis.

------
MikeGale
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.

~~~
sethammons
Working from home doesn't account for having kids who are going to school.
That is a larger vector than most workplaces.

------
bartread
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.

~~~
twistedanimator
Wow, that's refreshingly forward thinking! I wish my company took remote work
seriously.

~~~
hunta2097
Yeah there is nothing special about the internet in the office!

~~~
WrtCdEvrydy
We can watch people and make sure they work - Management

And what happens when the Management goes on Vacation during the holiday
break? - Me

* Stunned Management _

------
cronix
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.

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

~~~
specialp
Yeah there is. It is not like saying that if black hit on roulette 10x in a
row that one would be statistically overdue for red. Because those are
completely independent events with equal probability on each trial.

With earthquakes if statically speaking a massive earthquake hits on a roughly
1 in 500 year interval, the stresses at the plate boundary are much more
likely to be greater at year 600 than at year 1 after a massive earthquake.

[https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/events/1906calif/18a...](https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/events/1906calif/18april/eqmodels.php)

~~~
kirrent
If only earthquake modelling was so simple as to say you were overdue for an
earthquake simply based on accumulated stress. Unfortunately, the Gutenberg-
Richter law is not prescriptive, but a time independent statistical
observation which assumes independent events, which is why saying you're due
for another one is very much like gambler's fallacy. Of course we know that
there are underlying physical processes which make means there should be some
underlying dependence to be found, and there are attempts at time-dependent
models out there, but for our purposes independence works.

If you're interested in the statistics around recurrence times, can I
recommend this [1]? It's fairly well written and clear and it deals with this
issue fairly comprehensively and directly.

[1] -
[http://www.crm.cat/en/About/People/Researchers/ACorral/Docum...](http://www.crm.cat/en/About/People/Researchers/ACorral/Documents/corral_dependence_times_independencd_magnitudes_tp06.pdf)

------
AnimalMuppet
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.

~~~
hangphyr
If you speak to anyone who works in supply chain, they're all experiencing
massive disruptions. Traffic from Chinese ports has slowed significantly,
these things take some time before they start affecting our store shelves.
Some people will be quite surprised to see how many things rely on Chinese
supply, such as pharmaceuticals. Even if a product isn't exported in a
finished form from China, vast amounts of our low-level supply chains rely on
China.

~~~
james_s_tayler
Next some ex AWS engineer will quit Amazon to make a startup disrupting the
supply chain industry with Shuffle Sharded Supply Chains.

Gotta limit that blast radius after all.

------
0x1221
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.

~~~
cycrutchfield
Not too farfetched if you read a lot of news and see what is going on in other
countries that are affected.

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

~~~
paulgb
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).

~~~
Recursing
Shortages of what? Supermarkets in northern Italy have been restocking without
problems, there is a shortage of N95 face masks on amazon, but they're not
even proved to be useful for healthy people

~~~
lancesells
I grew up in a hurricane-prone state in the US. 95% of the time people stock
up and panic and nothing happens. I'm talking about gas shortages and empty
aisles in the grocery store. But the 5% where something does happen you wish
you stocked up because you're not even able to leave the area because there is
no gas. Not debating N95 masks effectiveness but I would rather be at least
slightly repaired because things go south really fast when people get hungry.

~~~
Recursing
Maybe it's more common in the US as it's more sparsely populated? As in there
are more potentially isolated cities?

The scenario you're describing doesn't seem plausible to happen in Milan

~~~
munificent
_> Maybe it's more common in the US as it's more sparsely populated? As in
there are more potentially isolated cities?_

My impression is that Europeans generally don't know what real severe weather
is like. A hurricane that happens to hit close to a population center while it
has a strong eyewall is _incredibly_ devastating. Think of it like a tsunami,
windstorm, and a family of tornadoes all at the same time.

The wind will knock down trees which crash into houses, block roads, and take
down power lines. That alone means most of your human infrastructure is gone.
Ambulances cannot reach you, you cannot get out, it's dark, communication
technology stops working, you may be overheating without air conditioning,
food quickly starts spoiling.

I lived in Orlando when Hurricane Charley hit. Thousands of giant live oak
trees were blown over. The drive from my house to my girlfriend's normally
took ten minutes. After the hurricane, it took me over an hour to get there
because I had to contend with billboards in the road, downed power lines, and
enormous trees blocking roads everywhere. Many places were simply
inaccessible.

If you are close to the coast, add a storm surge to that. Mass flooding surges
through neighborhoods. A tide of opaque, dirty, water containing all manner of
dangerous debris. Roads are washed away, houses collapse. People drown. During
Hurricane Katrina, a common failure mode was people who climbed into their
attic to escape the rising floodwaters, only to get trapped in there and drown
when the water level reached the attic itself. (Since then, New Orleanians
learned not to go into your attic during a flood unless you bring an axe to
chop through the roof.)

Most hurricanes are not this bad. They lose energy quickly when they make
landfall and their strength diminishes with distance from the center. But
there are half a dozen hurricanes _every year_ and when you throw that many
darts at the Gulf coast, eventually some of them will hit.

~~~
Recursing
Thanks for the answer, it's very likely that it's mostly caused by the more
likely extreme weather in the USA

The most similar thing that comes to mind is the last major earthquake, but
even then I don't think stocking food would have been useful, the problems
were rebuilding infrastructure and buildings, not shortages of stuff

------
tmaly
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.

~~~
nabla9
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 flush and leave it closed. It does not
solve the issue but it helps.

~~~
kaybe
I really wonder how we started to have the toilet and place for washing up in
the same room. Especially when you have more than one person it is so much
more convenient to have them separate.

~~~
Simon_says
Some people like to wash their hands after they poop.

~~~
kaybe
This solution is pretty nifty:

[https://images.victorianplumbing.co.uk/images/Alaska-
Combine...](https://images.victorianplumbing.co.uk/images/Alaska-Combined-Two-
In-One-Wash-Basin-Toilet-500mm-wide-l.jpg)

------
metalgearsolid
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)

------
ravenstine
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.

\---

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.

~~~
abraae
> 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.

~~~
ravenstine
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 crazy and they can't imagine it, but it's really
not that hard. That tells me that people are liable to digging into their food
too early on in a survival situation.

The truth is that while I am gradually burning body fat intentionally, I've
still got weeks worth of fat on my and probably will when I decide to reduce
my fasting back to eating one meal a day. I'd rather burn that fat and eat
minimally for the first week or two of a crisis before digging into my
reserves. Let's say I learn that the supply chain will be broken for longer
than expected; I want to have food around so I can calmly address the issue
without having to panic about where I'm going to get my next meal.

To put it simply, I don't think most people have the discipline to not pig out
on their earthquake kit or their pantry if they're stuck at home during a
pandemic. There's a bit of a caloric tradeoff in gaining that discipline, but
I think it's worth it.

~~~
ryan-allen
What fasting method do you practice? It sounds interesting!

~~~
ravenstine
I don't have much of a specific method, but usually I try to go at least 48
hours and limit myself to a 1 hour eating window. The key is getting your
electrolytes. It's amazing how big a difference they make. Otherwise, I just
take fasting day by day. I try to be conscientious and recognize whether I'm
genuinely hungry or just desiring food because I'm bored. If it's the former,
I'll break my fast. I eat pretty healthy when I break my fast, but I don't
make a fuss about too much carbs or whatever because I'll get satiated too
quickly to even get close to overeating.

~~~
cat199
since you sound well versed - what would be a good food-free way to get
electrolytes?

~~~
ravenstine
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 always drink Powerade Zero or something like that. I don't think
there's really anything wrong with that, and I drink those sometimes. It's
just more expensive and the artificial sweetener might spike insulin.(I doubt
that's a big deal) The recipe I described is pretty dirt cheap.

I used to have a hard time fasting for more than a day or doing a ketogenic
diet because I simply wasn't getting my electrolytes. This was accelerated by
the fact that I was drinking way too much water and urinating them out.
Replacing electrolytes throughout the day keeps me from feeling miserable.

~~~
perl4ever
One might think pedialyte was the best formulated option, but it tastes
terrible in my opinion.

~~~
ravenstine
I've never had pedialyte, but I don't imagine it tastes better or worse than
what I make. :)

------
cipan
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.

------
Arbalest
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.

~~~
senordevnyc
I think you should take whatever reasonable precautions help you feel better,
but just to put your mind at ease a little: one of the few bright spots with
this virus is that it doesn’t seem especially dangerous to kids. To my
knowledge there have been zero deaths of any kids under the age of 10. I have
a 4 year old and I’m much more concerned about her parents and grandparents
than her.

~~~
jedberg
> I have a 4 year old and I’m much more concerned about her parents

Isn't that you? :)

~~~
senordevnyc
Yes :)

------
abraae
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.

~~~
jackjeff
Empirically 3 out of 4 times I get the cold, it is from one of my kids.

If things get really bad I imagine schools will close. If kids are “old
enough” they may get some remote homework. Not great but doable.

But if you have a toddler you are pretty much stuffed. I can’t imagine what
stay at home quarantine would to my 3 year old. It gets bad enough when we get
stuck for the weekend because of storms... but TWO WHOLE WEEKS OR MORE?!!

~~~
senordevnyc
Ugh, agree. I’m in NYC and I have a 4 year old. The prospect of my wife and I
both working from home with our daughter for weeks (or longer?!?) is nightmare
fuel. Seriously considering trying to rent something in the woods outside the
city for a few months but that comes with its own issues...

------
heavyset_go
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.

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

~~~
jacquesm
Very appropriate username.

------
dicroce
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.

------
justinzollars
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...](https://www.marketwatch.com/story/coronavirus-fatality-rates-vary-
wildly-depending-on-age-gender-and-medical-history-some-patients-fare-much-
worse-than-others-2020-02-26)

------
throwaway122378
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?

~~~
gonational
14% of recovered cases in one area (South Korea, IIRC) have become infected
again, and one analysis showed that re-infection may be worse than the first
time.

Sorry, I don’t have any citation for this, because it’s been days since I read
it.

------
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.

------
chipuni
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.

------
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.

~~~
joezydeco
Right. And another concern I don't see addressed anywhere: what happens if one
member of your family gets it? What preparation do you need to
isolate/quarantine that person while still trying to take care of them?

Do you just settle for the fact you're all infected at that point?

~~~
theNJR
I was wondering about this too. Do you lock your wife in the guest room with a
multi-stage plastic tarp to deliver food?

~~~
huherto
Do it know. She may already be sick. Don't wait for the symptoms.

~~~
theNJR
“Hey honey, come with me...”

------
jklein11
I booked a trip to Orlando. The wait time for Hagrid's Motorbike ride is under
2 hours!

------
davidw
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!

~~~
wenc
> I'll be the king of the neighborhood if I'm the last one with real TP!

Consider getting a portable bidet as an alternative. All you need is water.

------
Taniwha
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).

------
gdubs
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.

------
valas
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.

~~~
agumonkey
I was reading this comment while this was on my screen
[https://youtu.be/XSS_sOLoB68?t=1795](https://youtu.be/XSS_sOLoB68?t=1795)

------
pkaye
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.

------
sagebird
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.

~~~
thorwasdfasdf
at my local sprouts grocery store they were out of some of the bulk section
bins: 2 or 3 of them. But, the other 17 bins were still mostly full. So, I
don't think the full panic has set in yet.

------
theNJR
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.

~~~
fludlight
Why the tarp and duct tape?

~~~
theNJR
If for some aggressive reason we have to seal windows, or seal off a room.
It’s also just a nice general purpose thing to have.

------
205guy
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](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.

------
geophile
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.

~~~
Someone1234
That plan seems predicated on the assumption that COVID-19 will burn itself
out and disappear in a matter of months. But there's no current evidence to
suggest that will be the case, and if we look to similar diseases, they have
been around for tens of years.

Even if it depresses in the summer months, it will return in full force next
winter (see e.g. flu, common colds, etc).

Best case scenario a working vaccine is invented. But nobody currently has a
proven working one (regardless of a few headlines to the contrary) and even if
they did that would be 18 months minimum before mass manufacturing could
begin.

What I am saying is "bomb shelter"-style hunkering down will likely be
ineffective if there's a mass spread in your country because the disease would
out-live whatever supplies you have.

~~~
geophile
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.

~~~
gambiting
Why would the water be tainted?

~~~
mattrp
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.

~~~
pmoriarty
_" It's not that crazy to hold 2 weeks of drinking water in your
pantry/garage."_

The recommendations I've seen have been for 1 gallon per person per day.

That's 14 gallons for just one person for 2 weeks. 56 gallons for a family of
4.

Not _that_ crazy, I guess, but that's still a lot of water.

------
akaryocyte
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...](https://virologydownunder.com/so-you-think-youve-about-to-be-in-a-
pandemic/)

~~~
owenversteeg
Wow, only 0.9% of deaths occurred among those without comorbidities? That
sounds very low, I'm surprised!

~~~
pmoriarty
That's still 5 to 10 times worse than the flu.

------
welder
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.

~~~
29athrowaway
And once you get to the hospital bed there will be no effective treatment for
you.

And you will be quarantined in the hospital section with all the rest of the
coronavirus patients, reinforcing your infection.

~~~
welder
I'll take those odds.

------
matchagaucho
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 :-)

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

Wait. What? I don't think that's actually effective at ridding you of a viral
infection.

~~~
matchagaucho
Right. Doesn't help an infection. Probably makes it worse.

But I suspect there's a window of about 30 minutes where the efficacy of
alcohol on the hands has a similar effect on the throat.

Make the host as inhospitable as possible and _maybe_ it'll prevent an
infection.

~~~
pmoriarty
An itching throat is a symptom that comes from already being infected. It's
not a sign that you're about to get infected.

So trying to prevent an infection when you're already infected doesn't make
any sense.

Besides, there's no evidence that gargling with alcohol will prevent an
infection either.

------
rp00
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

------
avgDev
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.

~~~
aaomidi
Are you seeing issues with manufacturing currently?

~~~
avgDev
It has not affected my company directly yet, but people are quite uneasy.

------
kempbellt
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.

~~~
Mountain_Skies
RE: It's The End Of The World As We Know It, at the end of the song at about
3:57, you can hear a voice in the background say what sounds like "Party".
I've never been able to find an explanation for how that got into the song or
why it is there.

~~~
kempbellt
Fascinating. Never noticed that until now

------
sneak
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.

~~~
chewz
This is useless if you live in the city. All your supplies will be taken away
from you by force if enough people becomes desperate.

~~~
sneak
I think the logical conclusion of your argument is that people in cities
should not undertake any preparedness measures. I do not subscribe to that
belief, and think it is an abdication of responsibility. It’s much more likely
that I will need water/food due to supply interruptions than I will need
water/food due to supply interruptions and also be subject to marauding gangs
of thieves.

Also, where I live in the winter, it is normal to have a non-trivial amount of
weapons in one’s own home, and something like 50% of homes do, despite being a
reasonably big city by local standards.

I envision places like that to remain a lot calmer and more civilized longer
than most other urban centers, where the means to keep order is a lot more
centralized, and probably the first to abandon their posts in times of extreme
crisis such as you allude to.

------
logfromblammo
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.

------
oriel
I put together this doc ([https://awesome-
covid-19.github.io/](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!

------
Dowwie
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.

------
tmaly
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.

------
idiocratic
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.

~~~
SuddsMcDuff
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normalcy_bias](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normalcy_bias)

~~~
idiocratic
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_distortion](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_distortion)
Psychosis. Anyone believes what they want in the end. This was just my
opinion.

------
wbsun
\- 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.

------
undersuit
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.

------
azemetre
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.

------
haunter
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](https://www.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/english/guide/bosai/index.html)

------
droithomme
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.

------
yuy910616
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.

~~~
fctorial
Would you do it though?

~~~
yuy910616
No

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

------
lurquer
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.

~~~
gambiting
Apparently even though it's unlikely to kill you, it's still likely to leave
you with long lasting damage, so no, I think I'd rather try as hard as
possible to avoid catching it in the first place.

~~~
rp00
Yeah heart damage. No thanks.

~~~
atarian
Do you have anything to back that up? According to a study published last
week:

>There were a few interstitial mononuclear inflammatory infiltrates, but no
other substantial damage in the heart tissue

[https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanres/article/PIIS2213-2...](https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanres/article/PIIS2213-2600\(20\)30076-X/fulltext)

------
chewz
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.

------
kawfey
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.

~~~
ouid
If you're 20 something, you have around 60 years of life left meaning that 2
months is about .3% of your remaining life. The probability, likewise, of
dying of coronavirus if you get coronavirus is on the order of .1%, it seems.
Spending 2 months of your life trying to not get the coronavirus seems like
throwing the baby out with the bath water, to me.

------
rwmj
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.

~~~
wenc
There is a place for shorts i.e. as price discovery mechanism, and in many
cases, as a price correction mechanism to reveal fundamental weaknesses in a
company with overpriced stock.

Shorting stocks to take advantage of a disaster strikes me as one of the most
unethical, immoral things one can do. People still do it, but it doesn't make
it right.

(apologies for the moralizing -- my sentiments are not directed at OP who was
merely musing and shooting the breeze -- but at amoral Wall Street types).

~~~
rwmj
I mean, it's an airline. While the CEO might lose his bonus, it's unlikely for
a bit of short selling to drive the airline out of business (and so for people
to lose their jobs), so I don't think this is really a moral issue. Also, this
is exactly a price discovery mechanism - the airline isn't going to be as
profitable so it isn't as valuable!

~~~
wenc
You could be right, but I think the ethics on it are less neutral than that.
(it's hard to say what "a bit" of short selling is -- there are feedback loops
in the stock market)

Airlines provide fast connectivity between cities for people and goods, which
is valuable in a disaster situation, and by shorting a stock to make a few
bucks, you'd be creating unfavorable transportation economics in a disaster
situation and possibly worsening supply chain constrictions. A short seller
would be profiting off the hardship of others.

------
ChrisClark
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.

------
dsteinman
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.

~~~
pwg
While not a source for 'assembled',
[https://oshpark.com/](https://oshpark.com/) claims to manufacture just the
PCB's in the USA for $5/sq inch in three board units.

------
webninja
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.

------
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.

------
lacker
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.

------
ryan-allen
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.

------
mister_hn
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

------
m3kw9
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

~~~
xiphias2
What can be bigger than that?

I have seen interview with a person in Wuhan and his biggest problem is
running out of food.

~~~
dx87
Other people coming to take your food. If there are major food shortages and
you have a big stockpile, you better hope you have a way to keep yourself
secure.

~~~
xiphias2
Are things that bad? I'm not sure if it's impossible to buy food, it's just
people try not to leave their homes.

------
sphix0r
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.

------
29athrowaway
\- 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.

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

------
binarytide
going to a tech conference!....

------
SkyBelow
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.

------
ajay_sibri04
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.

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

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

------
bchip
I am buying all the twinkies i can

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

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

~~~
selimthegrim
JHP?

~~~
mothsonasloth
Jacketed Hollow Point bullets

Essentially they create a shockwave in a soft target, causing a lot more
damage than a Full Metal Jacket round (FMJ).

~~~
selimthegrim
I thought cops lobbied for restrictions on this ammo

~~~
starpilot
They did.

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

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

------
dr_dshiv
Buying stock while the market is low.

------
mindcrime
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.

------
dekalbcountyman
Ammo

------
jdkee
Costco.

------
lquist
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...](https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/02/covid-
vaccine/607000/)

------
dana321
Extra Potatoes, milk and oil, boyo.. Thats about it.

------
allovernow
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.

~~~
dfsegoat
I find this to be pretty alarmist.

"If the pandemic hits" ... the virus has already hit.

The WHO itself has backed off the Pandemic classification [1].

The virus has an overall 98% survival rate, and most diagnosed cases in the
US, are not actually showing any symptoms (which itself is a cause for concern
re: spread).

The annual Flu, MERS and SARS were far far worse. The flu kills between 26,000
and 52,000 annually in the US [2], and as much as I love prepping, this just
does not fit the bill for the amount of FUD it has generated.

edit: comments are making me re-think my position. COVID is far worse
mortality rate wise in 65+ patients vs flu.

1 - [https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/02/who-tries-to-calm-
ta...](https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/02/who-tries-to-calm-talk-of-
pandemic-says-the-word-does-not-fit-the-facts/)

2 -
[https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/index.html](https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/index.html)

~~~
allovernow
>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 1918 Spanish
flu.

Now is the time to be alarmed. The media is behind, for understandable
reasons, do not rely on them when in 2020 you have access to the same sources
they do. The literature being publishes is almost universally grave. At this
point anyone minimizing ncov by comparing it to regular flu is being
irresponsible.

~~~
dfsegoat
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](https://www.who.int/csr/sars/en/WHOconsensus.pdf)

2-[https://www.who.int/emergencies/mers-
cov/en/](https://www.who.int/emergencies/mers-cov/en/) MERS case fatality rate
=

3 - [https://www.who.int/docs/default-
source/coronaviruse/situati...](https://www.who.int/docs/default-
source/coronaviruse/situation-
reports/20200219-sitrep-30-covid-19.pdf?sfvrsn=6e50645_2)

^ estimation efforts are ongoing and may change.

~~~
heartofgold
You are citing case fatality rate for MERS and SARS, but not the flu (which is
typically 0.1%), and yet in any given year the flu has killed many more people
than MERS or SARS. Why? Because millions get the flu whereas MERS and SARS
were contained.

Now consider that COVID-19 is much more contagious than the flu and it has a
significantly higher case fatality rate than the flu.

Furthermore, people can and do protect themselves against the flu with a
vaccine. There is no vaccine for COVID-19. And still further, no one is immune
because the disease is new to humans.

So yes, while covid-19 has a 98% survival rate, a widespread outbreak could
kill hundreds of thousands of people.

~~~
dfsegoat
This was enlightening and has let me revise my original position. Thanks

------
binarytide
Going to a tech conference!...

------
fmax30
@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

------
excellenter
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

