Coronavirus prep

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  • bearly63
    bearly63 Posts: 734 Member
    This has been an interesting and entertaining thread!
    Lots of good info here.
    I stocked up on some chicken and veggies, peanut butter, almond milk, and cleaning supplies.

    Still need to get vodka, which of course can be used to “kill the pain” and wash the hands if we run out of soap or hand sanitizer.

    The one thing that worries me is the total lack of beds/ventilators/staff to deal with a huge number of really sick people if it spreads quickly in a community.

    And will be people be good citizens and self quarantine if they develop symptoms? I realize it’s easier for some than others who need to be paid to survive day to day. It would be great to have policies in place so that no one feels they need to walk around sick.

    Here is a recipe for making your own hand sanitizer if you can’t find any in your stores.

    https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/2/21161346/hand-sanitizer-diy-how-to-hand-wash-cdc-alcohol-virus-illness

  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
    I never understood the hoarding of TP. I live in the land of the French Toast Run. For those not in the frozen North of the US, a French Toast Run is when people stock up on bread, milk, and eggs ahead of a snowstorm. Why TP is always included is beyond me. It's not like you can eat it if you get stuck inside . . .
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,899 Member
    earlnabby wrote: »
    I never understood the hoarding of TP. I live in the land of the French Toast Run. For those not in the frozen North of the US, a French Toast Run is when people stock up on bread, milk, and eggs ahead of a snowstorm. Why TP is always included is beyond me. It's not like you can eat it if you get stuck inside . . .

    It's funny and true. I think I even saw people stocking up before the polar vortex last year, which was only supposed to last a couple of days.

    Of course, I'm actually kind of low on TP now and yet haven't made it to the store despite talking about it on here for days now. Would serve me right if they happened to be out. I actually went into a Walgreen's on my way home but there was a line and I didn't feel like dealing with it.
  • DecadeDuchess
    DecadeDuchess Posts: 315 Member
    edited March 2020
    earlnabby wrote: »
    I never understood the hoarding of TP. I live in the land of the French Toast Run. For those not in the frozen North of the US, a French Toast Run is when people stock up on bread, milk, and eggs ahead of a snowstorm. Why TP is always included is beyond me. It's not like you can eat it if you get stuck inside . . .

    Some people purchase just enough, between regular shopping trips & thus realistically mightn't have enough, if they've to skip a trip. Also some illnesses, might include an abnormal increase of usage because of diarrhea.
  • nutmegoreo
    nutmegoreo Posts: 15,532 Member
    earlnabby wrote: »
    I never understood the hoarding of TP. I live in the land of the French Toast Run. For those not in the frozen North of the US, a French Toast Run is when people stock up on bread, milk, and eggs ahead of a snowstorm. Why TP is always included is beyond me. It's not like you can eat it if you get stuck inside . . .

    There's picking up some extra and then there are stories like this:

    https://metro.co.uk/2020/03/04/panic-buyer-pulls-knife-another-shopper-row-toilet-roll-12344873/
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,950 Member
    Psychgrrl wrote: »
    We just got some extra dry beans, rice, and gallon jugs of water. We aren't really afraid of the virus, but more of the panicked shoppers that might clear the shelves, lol.

    I don’t get the stocking up in water for most folks. Since when does a potential quarantine come with a utility shut off?

    Some people don't drink tap water (no, I'm not one of them). So they stock up, probably buying twice as much as they would in an ordinary week (given the 14-day quarantine period of the virus).
  • rheddmobile
    rheddmobile Posts: 6,840 Member
    I waited too long to buy more hand sanitizer so my household is going to run out before it becomes available again. I even called office supply stores and they were all out. One office supply store manager apparently has been living under a rock for the past month, asked, “Why does everyone keep calling today to ask if we have hand sanitizer?”

    I go through a lot of hand sanitizer at the best of times. Oh well.

    On the upside, there was a fully stocked supply of TP at Walgreens, no sign of panic buying. But that could change tomorrow if we get a case near here.

    Ate at a catfish joint yesterday, three tables other than us, with four, three, and two people at them. Total of five symptomatic sick people. Each table had at least one sick person barking like a seal. My husband pointed out that literally every woman in the place - all four women were sick - was coughing with no attempt to cover their mouths. For some reason the one man who was sick was also the only person polite enough to cough quietly into his elbow. Hmm.

    Speaking of living under a rock, if I had a rock I would go live under it until this blows over. People scare me.
  • try2again
    try2again Posts: 3,562 Member
    earlnabby wrote: »
    I never understood the hoarding of TP. I live in the land of the French Toast Run. For those not in the frozen North of the US, a French Toast Run is when people stock up on bread, milk, and eggs ahead of a snowstorm. Why TP is always included is beyond me. It's not like you can eat it if you get stuck inside . . .

    Some people purchase just enough, between regular shopping trips & thus realistically mightn't have enough, if they've to skip a trip. Also some illnesses, might include an abnormal increase of usage because of diarrhea.

    I'm dying to know which part of your post the 2 people disagreed with. :D
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,899 Member
    earlnabby wrote: »
    lemurcat2 wrote: »
    earlnabby wrote: »
    I never understood the hoarding of TP. I live in the land of the French Toast Run. For those not in the frozen North of the US, a French Toast Run is when people stock up on bread, milk, and eggs ahead of a snowstorm. Why TP is always included is beyond me. It's not like you can eat it if you get stuck inside . . .

    It's funny and true. I think I even saw people stocking up before the polar vortex last year, which was only supposed to last a couple of days.

    Of course, I'm actually kind of low on TP now and yet haven't made it to the store despite talking about it on here for days now. Would serve me right if they happened to be out. I actually went into a Walgreen's on my way home but there was a line and I didn't feel like dealing with it.

    I just stopped at Costco today and I was amazed at the people who had almost nothing BUT TP in their cart. Me? I had a couple of cheeses, a couple of bottles of wine, some tomato paste and cans of diced tomatoes, and a rotisserie chicken. Obviously the essentials :D

    Was the line normal? I've been meaning to go to Costco but afraid it might be full of hoarders.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,899 Member
    earlnabby wrote: »
    I received this from a kid's youth sports organization:

    Practice frequent and meticulous hand-washing with soap and water or alcohol-based hand rub
    Avoid touching your eyes, nose, or mouth with unwashed hands
    Cover your nose and mouth when coughing and/or sneezing with a tissue or flexed elbow
    Avoid close contact with anyone with cold or flu-like symptoms
    Quarantine anyone who is sick (players, coaches, parents, roommates)
    Ensure safe food sources; thoroughly cook meat and eggs
    Handshake lines after games should include fist bumps with gloves on
    Use individual water bottles; do not share them
    Towels should not be shared in any way

    My question is: why isn't this the way we all live our lives every day, with or without a pandemic scare? Once this scare has passed, do people just go "whew, now I can stop washing my hands, can go out in public when I have illness symptoms, can share water bottles, eat unthoroughly cooked meat and eggs, etc.?" Lol

    Other than the handshake lines with gloves, this is really common sense for everyday living. I am not a germophobe and I do all of those. I do not use antibacterial anything (except hand sanitizer when washing my hands in water is not an option, like when hiking) and rarely get sick. I believe part of it is my genes and part of it is a common sense approach to germs. Low level exposure increases immunity but higher level exposure is minimized.

    Until I know what is really happening in my area regarding the coronavirus I will continue to practice common sense precautions. True, I may do more grocery shopping online with curbside pickup but that is it.

    BTW: the CDC recommends lathering your hands for the length of time it takes to sing "Happy Birthday" twice. That is wrong. Any grade school teacher will tell you that you should lather your hands for the time it takes you to sing the "ABC song", which I do encourage my students to do and yes, the bathrooms echo funny when they do.

    There used to be a sign in Bob Evans that suggested singing "Old McDonald Had a Farm". What I was never sure on was you supposed to lather and since during the song, or lather during one verse and rinse during the other? I figure better safe than sorry, so Old McDonald gets 2 critters for his farm every time I wash my hands lol

    https://www.wkyc.com/article/entertainment/twitter-users-suggest-alternative-songs-to-sing-while-washing-your-hands/95-fd780952-4406-426f-ad60-2965199368cd
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,899 Member
    try2again wrote: »
    earlnabby wrote: »
    I never understood the hoarding of TP. I live in the land of the French Toast Run. For those not in the frozen North of the US, a French Toast Run is when people stock up on bread, milk, and eggs ahead of a snowstorm. Why TP is always included is beyond me. It's not like you can eat it if you get stuck inside . . .

    Some people purchase just enough, between regular shopping trips & thus realistically mightn't have enough, if they've to skip a trip. Also some illnesses, might include an abnormal increase of usage because of diarrhea.

    I'm dying to know which part of your post the 2 people disagreed with. :D

    Maybe the connection between snowstorms and diarrhea?

    But it wasn't me. I just almost responded to that.

    Nothing DD said was responsive to the question about why MORE purchases when a snowstorm, which is a real thing (plus an odd disagree to earlnabby's post which I personally assumed was DD and others might have also).
  • whmscll
    whmscll Posts: 2,254 Member
    I waited too long to buy more hand sanitizer so my household is going to run out before it becomes available again. I even called office supply stores and they were all out. One office supply store manager apparently has been living under a rock for the past month, asked, “Why does everyone keep calling today to ask if we have hand sanitizer?”

    I go through a lot of hand sanitizer at the best of times. Oh well.

    On the upside, there was a fully stocked supply of TP at Walgreens, no sign of panic buying. But that could change tomorrow if we get a case near here.

    Ate at a catfish joint yesterday, three tables other than us, with four, three, and two people at them. Total of five symptomatic sick people. Each table had at least one sick person barking like a seal. My husband pointed out that literally every woman in the place - all four women were sick - was coughing with no attempt to cover their mouths. For some reason the one man who was sick was also the only person polite enough to cough quietly into his elbow. Hmm.

    Speaking of living under a rock, if I had a rock I would go live under it until this blows over. People scare me.

    You can make your own hand sanitizer. 2 parts rubbing alcohol (Everclear also works) to 1 part aloe vera gel.