Epidemic/Pandemic coming to you soon... How would you react?

a reply to: Rodinus

Well, my plan was to hunker down for awhile, but you can't hide from rumors. So when I have had to leave my house lately I have been sanitizing everything I possibly can. Try standing in front of a grocery store trying to figure out what part of the cart the munchkin will touch before shoving his hands in his mouth. It's even harder trying to get them to keep their hands out of their mouths. Even my oldest likes to chew on his fingernails. I have also completely sanitized a gas pump wherever I had to touch it. My husbands lunch bag is the next thing on my radar, he needs a new one, just not until after everything settles down.

We had a concern locally, but the CDCs algorithm determined there was nothing to worry about.

a reply to: Rodinus

Well we live down a long dirt road and the neighbors have plans to down trees to stop the flow of outsiders when a certain panic level is reached. Of coarse this is just too keep the city folk's out for a bit.

a reply to: Rodinus


What I think I'd do. . .


What I'd actually do. . .



We all talk a big game, myself included, but in reality?

It's anyone's guess.

originally posted by: stardust22
a reply to: MissBeck

I'm also in the UK. If you don't mind me asking, where abouts (roughly) are you based? I'm down in Sussex and not too far from a couple of National Parks. If SHTF, me, my girlfriend and hopefully her family, will head up to one with all our bug out/survival gear. My partner and I have pretty decent survival knowledge and are pretty certain we could keep ourselves alive. As for weapons, we are a bit stuck in the UK, but we are allowed bows & arrows, and some knifes (although, they are somewhat short). A good place to get cheap knifes in the UK is a seller called AngloArms on Amazon (not affiliated, just own more than my fair share of their products).

Be careful and stay safe.

Hi Star!

I'm in the middle (West Midlands). Our village is just outside a town called Cannock in Staffordshire. We have Cannock Chase surrounding us, but I don't think in reality, bugging out with a 5 year old would be practical. Literally 2 minutes from me is a place called Chasewater, which is like a wildlife reserve and boating area. If I was really desperate, I could always go hunt the swans, geese and ducks!

As for knives, I would be useless. I'm only 5' 2. I would be overpowered in a second, especially by a gang. At least with a gun, there could be a bit of distance between an attacker. But will give the bow and arrow some research time.

originally posted by: nugget1
My immune system isn't quite up to snuff, so I have years of practice.

epicor helps
Not saying it will cure ebola.
It does help increase immune health.

I'm already about as bugged out as I care to get, since I've been expecting the economy to go kablooie, along with a legion of other 'what-ifs' over the past decade or so. Grocery shopping (if the stores even stayed open, that's hardly a given) is a few minutes' drive but this is a very small town, and the house backs up to BLM timberland and mountains, so exposure to any plague virus would be limited to going for supplies. The Umpqua River and its tributaries are minutes away so year round water and fish is available.

I've done quite a bit of reading about plagues starting with historical descriptions of the Spanish Flu The Bird Flu Book and the Richard Preston books, and others. The Spanish Flu outbreak is instructional; it tended to come through in waves with quieter times in between. People self-quarantined as best they could and ALL non-essential public activities were cancelled; that means church, sporting events, I presume school. I'm not sure what people did about their jobs. Probably the govt demanded 'essential services' show up for work, everyone else not.

Some small towns avoided any deaths by posting armed guards on the roads leading in and out of town and no one was allowed in or out; another town had a small town doc who advised everyone to 'get drunk and stay drunk' during an outbreak; they also, interestingly, had no deaths from the Flu either. Not sure if it was because the alcohol was anti-viral, or everyone was too drunk to leave the house.

The point I'm making here is if an Ebola outbreak happens, perhaps the best thing to do would be to be ready with food for several weeks, water, optional information possibilities like shortwave radio, and be prepared to hunker down during the times when an outbreak is appearing. If the electricity goes off because that service is not being maintained, you're going to be highly isolated, but I think that would be worse case scenario. The bigger your city, the more frequent, worse intensity and longer those hunker down times might be. A city like New York where people live in small apartments and generally shop every day would seem to be death traps.

I think all the people vaguely planning to 'bug out' don't realize, unless they're first on the road and have a specific place in mind that they know will accept them, bugging out is not going to work. You don't want to be trapped on a highway with hundreds of other cars, some of them stalled and out of gas... and how far can you walk with your supplies? Exposure would kill most people inside of a week, as would bad water or no water.

With Ebola, simply avoiding other people seems to be a sure win-scenario, to the best of your ability.

I will readily admit I'm chicken. I'd hide. The second I heard it was in town, I'd make a quick dash to the nearest grocery store and grab as much as I could, wearing gloves, boots, etc.

Then I'd come home and hide, and hope it would blow over. That's it. That's my big plan. Sigh.

Since I severely limit my contact with people, let alone their bodily fluids, I do not see why anything different is necessary.

a reply to: Rodinus

When a killer virus starts to spread into every state and counties is already an epidemic it means life as usual is not longer supported it will be affecting every aspect of regular life and society, schools will close, work will come to a stand still.

That means time to board the doors and windows and to make sure that is enough supplies for survival to last several months.

a reply to: MissBeck

I appreciate it isn't an option for everyone. Definitely look into it. I'd personally recommend a compound bow as they're a bit easier to draw back, plus you can add sights to them.

My girlfriend is 5'4, I know she has similar concerns, but we both agree it'd be better she have a knife and not need it rather than the other way around. It doesn't have to be big or flashy, we picked up a couple for £4 the other day, they aren't bad either. Besides, you could always tie it to a long stick

As for the swans, just watch the Queen doesn't catch you

In an epidemic state, the governments of the would mandate "Martial Law" geographically. We'll not only have to watch out for ebola sheddings, but also military forces pointing guns at us and rounding us up.

How many of us would want to be herded together?

I agree avoiding others will be paramount to survival. And yes, it's a play-it-by-ear scenario. There's no predicting the outcome.

I'm lucky enough to live on an island. It's big and quite populated farther west. Fortunately for me, I live in the eastern most town. Lots of woods and farm land out here. There's also several other, smaller, islands dotting the coast line. One of them is privately owned. It's actually one of the largest private islands in the world. Larger even than the island that is a town. For years my girlfriend and I have been stock piling the essentials. We also have a strong network of friends who prep as well. We do have a set number of cases, for any type of illness, that will sound the alarm for us to bug out. There's years of planning involved for every situation we've been able to dream up. A good friend of mines father used to take care of the private island. It's miles of forest with a deer population so high they have to hunt at least 1,000 (yes one thousand) of them a year just to try to keep the population under control. There is also 5 fresh water ponds and 2 saltwater ponds. So the plan is to head over there and stay on the north side as they've put up a couple houses on the south side. I'm sure other people have the same plan in mind but it's large enough we could all live separately if need be. If anyone wasn't ok with that, aside from the owners, they'd be in for a rather abrupt and rude awakening.