COVID-19 prep

Until last week I'd been thinking of the coronavirus scare as one of those media-amplified panics, like the threat of terrorism, much overblown and best ignored by sensible people. Having learned more about it, however, I've realised I was wrong.

I'm assembling this post for my own reference, and sharing it in case it's useful to anyone else.

Number of known UK cases to date: 319 spread out throughout the UK.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/news.sky.com/story/amp/coronavirus-uk-coronavirus-cases-rise-46-in-24-hours-taking-total-to-319-11953529

Symptoms: cough, fever, shortness of breath
How it's transmitted: via respiratory droplets eg when someone coughs and sneezes. It can probably survive on a surface for a few hours.

As I understand it, it's infectious, there's no vaccine yet, our immune systems haven't dealt with it before so you are quite likely to get sick if you're exposed to it. You most likely won't die, unless you're already ill or old. But you should care anyway because:
- the more people are sick, the more likely it is that old/ill people will catch it
- the more people are sick, the harder it will be for the remaining well people to care for them and keep society running
- you might be able to afford to get sick, but for people in economic precarity, without sick leave, who have caring responsibilities, the cost can be very high
- being sick sucks

So what precautions are sensible?

Avoiding catching it and spreading it

The advice is to wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water for 20 seconds. This is apparently how long it takes to sing Happy Birthday twice, although helpful people on the internet have compiled lists of other songs the right length to relieve the tedium.

https://www.cdc.gov/handwashing/when-how-handwashing.html

Most people suck at washing their hands properly, so it's worth watching a video about how to do it, paying attention to the areas which are often missed.

Wash your hands when arriving home, as well as the other usual times (before eating, after going to the loo or blowing your nose, etc)

If soap and water aren't available, alcohol based hand sanitizer is better than nothing. It doesn't clean your hands though and it doesn't kill the virus reliably. Soap and water are far more effective if you have the option.

I found this post about what alcohol is, and isn't, good for re coronavirus useful: https://liv.dreamwidth.org/568900.htm

Domestic prep

Here's our list:

Buy alcohol cleaning wipes and clean surfaces in the housewives are touched regularly with surface spray or a wipe: door knobs, banisters, phones, tablets. Not sure how to clean computer keyboards.

Prepare for the possibility of sickness/quarantine/supply shortages by stocking up on:
- prescription and over the counter medicines we use regularly
- medicines in general, especially cold and flu treatments and tissues
- supplements
- dry food ingredients (we just did a big wholefoods order so this is in hand)
- doing a few batch cooks and filling the freezer with frozen microwave meals
- 2 months worth of cupboard food, including easy food for us and E in case we're sick
- order other essentials like loo roll, laundry detergent, soap, teabags

siderea is doing a series of posts on how to keep for a pandemic which are incredibly useful. Recommended if you want to be better informed. https://siderea.dreamwidth.org/tag/coronavirus2020

I'm starting to process the fact I may not get to do this Amsterdam trip at the end of the month after all. So far, Amsterdam is no less safe than London, but we'll see how doable travel with a baby feels in a few weeks.