Potential Pandemic Precautions

Updated 3-1/2020

See updated view:
https://websurfinmurf.blogspot.com/2020/03/covid-19-what-is-next.html

Updated 1-27-2020

Please consider spending $100-200 now to stock up on precautions for you and your family as the Novel Coronavirus unfolds.  Items I recommended are below, worse case you buy and hopefully avoid a common flu this season.  What does it cost, $100-200 bucks?!  I spend more on a single dinner with my family, don't be cheap.

If you're convinced, read Items to order and skip the second part of this post.  If you won't take precautions, skip to bottom and read "Why the concern about Novel Coronavirus".   I created hyper-links for you to read the what I did, to see what influenced my decisions.

Items to order

Vitamins

Consider a daily vitamin high in Vitamin C: Airborne 1000mg Vitamin C

Science has shown elderberry prevents catching the flu:
Elderberry daily dose, 100mg to keep your defenses up
ElderBerry daily dose, 150 mg to keep your defenses up
Elderberry liquid, to pack a punch when you need it.

Sanitizers

To prevent transmission, go over-the-top with hand sanitizers with 70% alcohol content.
Economical bottle, keep one at home and at work:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0013CNOMU/ref=psdc_2265897011_t2_B00J4EXQPY

Travel packs
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DDZMLLK/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?smid=A2A3AJ6U4IV7UO&psc=1

Gloves/Masks

I can't see this as being needed or used.   But if you want to order 'while supplies last", get a mask of N99 or N100 rating.  These things have almost no backlog supply so most are already sold out.
For gloves, ignoring this crazy post, I love these gloves ! (click)  I use it to clean up disgusting messes at home.

What the CDC recommends.

What I recommend above, and wash your hands constantly, 20 seconds+ each time.  For more click below.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/about/prevention-treatment.html

Over-the-Top options.

Buy food, don't eat out, or have others prepare your food and stock up.
Avoid planes, trains, etc.  Work at home if possible.  At this time I plan to continue normal life, but will curb eating out.
One of the medicines that in theory will help is https://www.kaletra.com/ . Its impossible to get at a reasonable price.

Why the concern on Novel Coronavirus

The last successful pandemic was the Spanish flu , killing about 75 million people back in 1918.
We have better medicine, more knowledge, but we do travel much more than back then making spreading much faster.  Latest news as of this post predicts doubling of cases every 6 days.  If this is true in the USA alone assuming 100 people are infected now, we can expect 1 in 3 catching this virus in 4 months.    The medical system isn't able to cope with exponential contagions and will become over-whelmed.

So what if we catch it?   What makes this virus different is carriers take up to 14 days to show symptoms.  The infection rate is 2.6, meaning if you get infected you will on average infect 2.6 people.   This is why there is an exponential component.   China has been playing down this disease, but if we are to believe their under-reported numbers, the death rate is 2.65%.   Since they may have lower medical treatment, and they are likely under-reporting, we can go with this death rate for outside China as a guess.

At this contagion rate in 4  months if 1 out of 3 people do catch the virus, we can expect 2.7 million to die in USA.  Yes this is fantastical, and yes I hope its under 10,000 and this post will be a joke in June.  But the point is, the best knowledge today says this is what is possible.  The question really is what will be the death rate in the USA once we hit 1 million infected.  By then the medical facilities will be fully utilized.

To read more about coronavirus click here, or  watch here.

Still not convinced? Again, whats the big deal to buy vitamins, and sanitizers that will be good for next winter also.  If someone you love has frail health, there is no better reason to act.
Best I can do, good luck.

Update 2/8/2020
China has been hiding numbers and not even counting infected.  Neil Ferguson estimates 50K new cases a day as of Feb 5th, doubling every 5 days, with extreme infection in 4 weeks in China
Super Spreaders proven, one patient infects 57 people in a hospital
Update 2/18/2020
Coronavirus is 20x Deadlier than the Flu
Half the Population of China, 760 Million, Now Locked Down