28 March 2020 | Updated: 02 April 2020

There is a light at the end of the tunnel.  I know this is surreal to most people – and unless you’ve experienced something like a military deployment, this experience is going to be a bit of a shock.  Don’t worry, though, this event is very survivable.

We just need to adjust our thinking and make sure that each day we are taking the steps we can to keep ourselves and our families healthy.  A small amount of sacrifice will go a long way.  Each person that doesn’t become a vector for this virus right now is preventing potentially thousands of people from getting sick.

The major risk of a pandemic is not just the illness of the underlying cause – but what it means when a healthcare system is overwhelmed.

A critical step to making it through this well is to have sufficient supplies on hand to shelter in place.  By reading further, you are agreeing not to hoard nor tolerate those who do!

I began following this virus in early January and had predicted pandemic shortly thereafter.  I have not hoarded anything even though I saw this coming.  We all need to work together if we are going to get through this together.

Okay, so now that you have agreed to not hoard – here are steps to make sure you’re prepared:

  • Start by making a list of the supplies you have on hand; this means everything you will need to shelter in place (food, medicine, supplies, etc.).
  • You should always have a 30-day supply of what you need to survive on hand. Even in the strictest total shelter orders, people will still have access to the grocery store and pharmacies, but you should buy smart.
    • Dried items pack the most nutritional punch for the storage space they require. Rice and dried beans are a great example of products that are light weight and take up very little room – then cook into large servings.  Quinoa and other complex grains are also great ideas.
    • Shelf stable canned foods like vegetables, fruit, tuna fish, salmon, etc.
    • Frozen items and fresh items that can be frozen – vegetables, lean proteins, etc.
    • Long-lasting foods like nuts, cheeses, etc. looking for items that make you feel fuller when you snack on them.
    • Some of your favorite comfort foods in moderation but make those the treats and not the staples of what you’re buying. Avoid things that will dehydrate you; we are all prone to stress eat during these times so keep that in mind with what goodies you choose.
    • Try to take this as a bit of a cleanse as the better we eat, the healthier our immune systems are.
    • Pro tip: humans can go exceptionally long periods of time on very little food. So long as you have sufficient hydration, you could survive on one serving of rice and beans, for example, per day for a long time.
  • I am taking at least 1,000 mg of vitamin C every morning, and up to double that twice a day if I’m loading in advance of going out for groceries, etc.
    • Vitamin C, Vitamin D, and Zinc are some vitamin supplements that boost immune health.
  • For the current situation, it would be wise to have a 90-day supply of any necessary medications on hand.
  • You need to have some OTC medications on hand. If you or your family get the coronavirus, your best bet will be to actually self-isolate and get better at home if at all possible.
    • Severe Cold and Flu medicine, sufficient for 14-days of doses for each person; preferably one that contains the following four active ingredients such as those made by Robitussin, Theraflu, and comparable generic brands:
      • Acetaminophen (pain reliever and fever reducer)
      • Dextromethorphan HBr (cough suppressant)
      • Guaifenesin (expectorant)
      • Phenylephrine HCI (nasal decongestant)

Once you’re prepared, then start making a plan of how you will spend your time while sheltering in place for as many consecutive days as possible.  Take it as a fun challenge to see how long you can go – resist the natural human tendency to make excuses for why you need to go out!

Each time you break isolation you are taking a risk of being infected.  It will help to sit down and write out some goals of how you want to spend this time to both make the most of it and to help establish a routine that will keep you isolated.

This will end one day and we want to be able to look back on how we conducted ourselves and feel good about it.  This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to prioritize our most important relationships.

I recently saw a local news piece on a group of Tarrant County CASA volunteers graduating virtually so they could get out there and advocate for the most in need; how inspiring!  We can all find ways to pitch in and everyone doing their individual part and staying at home is a big way to pitch in.

Here are some basics to keep in mind as being a part of the solution can be as simple as staying home and not becoming a vector for the virus:

  • Maximize your trips out (e.g., go to one store where you can get everything you need) and keep the number of people going out with you to a minimum.  It’s important to recognize that going shopping for essential items is not “something to do” instead of sheltering in place at home; if you need to get out, get outdoors for a little while in a practical and safe manner.
    • Unless you are on WIC, be conscious of buying any WIC labelled items around the beginning of the month.  The mothers, infants, and children depending on those benefits need to have inventory to purchase when they get their monthly benefits.
  • Sheltering a pet might be a great idea and give you something fun to do during the stay-at-home effort.  If you have a good setup to do so, you would be a huge help to the shelters and adoption non-profits as they work to make it through this crisis.
  • We have a new found appreciation for our supermarket superheroes, our logistics and delivery workers, and our medical professionals.  Mothers and parents are taking on the duties of educators while juggling all the rest of the chaos. Just letting someone know you appreciate them doing some small part of this collective fight might mean a lot to them!

Here are some best practices and things to keep in mind:

  • Avoid public places; outdoor spaces are healthy and important but put your thinking cap on about where to go, when, and how to keep real space between you and others.
  • If you have sufficient personal protective equipment like disposable gloves and a mask, you should consider wearing them when you go to necessary public places like the store and be careful how and where you dispose of your used equipment
  • Currently, it appears that the primary method of transmission is via droplets expelled from sick persons – thankfully for the national stay-at-home effort there is very little evidence there is high risk of transmission via groceries and take out/deliver.  Of course that assumes one is taking the maximum protections whenever going out.  Try to use no contact or minimum contact pickup options as well.
  • Think about wearing clear eye protection when you’re out – the tighter the seal with your face the better (goggles best, then close fitting, etc.) but any protection for your eyes is better than none.
    • Pro tip: Write down the order in which you will put on the PPE and the order you will take them off.
      • Think about how to get proper worn seals with the order you put things on and how to discard the contaminated items without contaminating clean things when you take them off.
      • Make sure you physically walk through the steps before you go out on your first real world use of them.  If you touch your face with the gloves you wore, for example, that defeats the purpose!
  • Stay at least six feet away from others. Remember, six feet is only because that’s how far cough droplets travel when people cough!  I’m staying farther than six feet away from others – and at least 30 feet away from high-risk contagion groups such as those not practicing social distancing.
  • Wash your hands thoroughly and frequently for at least 20 seconds with soap and water. I use the A-B-C song to measure the time.
  • Retrain yourself to stop touching your face. Based on a few things I’ve observed, I think this is potentially a huge mitigation.  It is very hard to stop, it’s amazing how often we touch our faces without thinking about it but I highly recommend making the effort to stop.

Think positive and hang-in there; it really could be a lot worse.  This will pass – we just all need to do our part to get through it!