Preparedness Notes for Sunday — February 2, 2020

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February 2nd is the birthday of Ayn Rand (born Alisa Zinov’yevna Rosenbaum in 1905), died March 6, 1982. She is of course remembered for her novel Atlas Shrugged, which is considered a Libertarian classic. While I sharply disagree with her views on religion (since she was an atheist), I admire both her skill as a writer and her ability to articulate some core precepts of human liberty.

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I’m still down with the flu, so I won’t be posting anything but this top note and a quote today. Sorry!  The feature Post-TEOTWAWKI Pest Control – Part 2, by J.S.R. should be posted on Tuesday, February 4, 2020.


25 Comments

  1. Ironic, eh? Catching a bad flu during a viral pandemic….

    This is probably is an appropriate time to remind all readers of SurvivalBlog’s excellent static page on influenza preps. It’s under the Resources tab as “Protection from an Influenza Pandemic. https://survivalblog.com/asianflu/

    If any readers have new info on the coronavirus, please share below.

    1. Speaking of movies, I have always been surprised that “U – 571” has not been on anyone’s list. While it is fiction, I thought it a great WWll suspense thriller, but more importantly, I learned some important lessons about leadership. Early on in the movie, Bill Paxton, explains to Matthew McConaughey why he did not get promoted. That scene is burned into my mind. It is a lesson, I fear, each of us is going to have to learn through our own circumstances, whether we want to, or not. In addition, Harvey Keitel plays a great role and the movie also won an Oscar for sound.

  6. Just saw this fun fact on the interwebs:

    Not only is today Groundhog Day , today’s date: 02/02/2020 the only 8-digit-date palindrome most of us will experience in our lifetimes. The next will come in 101 years on 12/12/2121

  8. Get well soonest! My wife and I got this bug going around. We have not had a cold/flu like this in years. Yes, we had our flu shot. We live away from people and figure we got sick when going into town to the grocery store.

  9. JWR, thanks for your long-time blog that has taught so many of us, including me. I sent u a check for my 10-cent challenge. Your blog has provided daily content for so many years, that it’s time for u to take a break, while u get well. Prayers & best wishes for your & your family’s recovery. Thanks for blessing me thru your books too!

  10. Must be the type B virus. It has been several years since that strain was included in US immunizations, in the case that people were getting vaccine.

    Sorry for all you who are suffering.

    I, however, just had major sinus surgery and am getting loads of pain, anti-inflammation, and antibiotics. Recovery is tough but am so looking forward to using my nose to breath again after years of struggle. Now living as a layabout with restrictions against work while I heal. Huge bandage strung from my ears and holding my nose up.

    Can’t even participate in cage-fighting for two weeks, if you can imagine!

    I am getting lots of good YouTubing on disease outbreaks, mostly about Ebola but there are many good videos on pandemic diseases, for free.

    One medical resource that is fantastic is this Doctor’s videos. He has about 250 short 6 to 12 minute videos which are concise and illuminating. MedCram.

    https://www.youtube.com/user/MEDCRAMvideos/?app=desktop

    God Bless, and keep that chicken soup in front of you!

    1. Hello Wheatley Fisher,

      We’re praying for you to have a quick and speedy recovery. Breathing through your nose, again, is very important! Your post made laugh! 😉

      I made chicken soup tonight with lots of lemon and some honey.

      Much blessings and health to you,

      Lily

  11. James & Lily,
    Hope you and your family recover soon, praying for for you.

    I just had my own scare this morning. Mom called & said Dad is not feeling well, In and out of the bathroom all night, lethargic ect. So I raced over there. I actually suited up with gloves, mask, disposable apron, booties. . I can’t take any chances with my parents as they are in their 80’s. Thankfully no fever.

    I will have to watch this closely as Dad had C Diff a couple years ago and it nearly killed him.

    I loaded them both up with elderberry and went through their condo & wiped down every surface with medical grade sanitizer. Scrubbed down both bathrooms ect. I even went so far as to wipe down the railings and doors to their place as there are 3 other units in their building.
    Brought over homemade chicken soup and got dad to at least eat that.

    I scrubbed & sanitized my own house yesterday. I also made sure that I wiped down every surface inside the car in the hope that I can at least minimize transfer back and forth.
    Please be safe everyone

    1. Dear RKRGRL68,

      Wow, That was a lot to do, but needed. Thank you for your well wishes and prayers. (All of you who are praying for us, Thank You) The girls and I, appear to be recovering well. I hope if it settles into the chest for us, it will be light. Jim on the other hand has serious bronchitis. He WILL be going to the Dr. tomorrow by my order! All of us slept much of the past 36 hours. I’m up and about now, cleaning the house, doing dishes, laundry and cooking dinner. I want to start sanitizing everything, too. I will do that when the main surfaces are cleaned up. But I will not over do it. I know when to quit. 🙂

      May you have a safe week.

      Blessings,

      Lily

      1. I am sure you already know this, but for purposes of medical preps, having Guaifenesin in any form (Mucinex or even plain old liquid Robitussin are both good) in your supplies is so important at times like this. It isn’t terribly expensive, and if it is taken with lots of fluids, it will definitely thin mucus secretions, making it easier to cough up that mucus in your lungs. (I seldom advocate cough suppressants for bronchitis… The sooner you can thin those mucus secretions and cough that stuff up, the better. Obviously, mucus is just a breeding ground for more germs and worsening lung function.). Once you start the Guaifenesin and fluids, it helps to have the patient sit upright while you tap-tap-tap along the lower lung area of the patient. Do thIs every couple hours. This can help dislodge secretions.

        You are all in my prayers….

        1. Hello GritsInMontana,

          Thanks for reminding me of doing Percussions on Jim, if he will let me? I had forgot about them. As far as the Guaifenesin/Mucinex, we have some, but we usually try not to take any meds., at all. I will talk with Jim about it tomorrow, or later, if he is awake, and see if he wants to take it to loosen his gunk.

          Thank You for your prayers,

          Lily

      2. Lily, that man is lucky to have you. As I pray for his rapid recovery, I live in gratitude for this powerful blog.

        I am married to a woman, who like you Lily, has been insistent on my getting doctor care. We even now, have written plan for when my cussedness blocks my common sense. I agree to talk with trusted people in my life and follow their advice regarding medical care.

        Carry on

  12. Lily, good to hear Jim is going to Dr.
    Dad is stubborn at his age.
    I thought long about this and feel that dad may have been exposed on January 8th when I had him at his Cardiologist for his regular check up
    I had to bring him down to the lab to have his blood drawn to check his INR level. I immediately slathered him with sanitizer but the blood draw technician actually told us that this years flu is really bad and that the vaccine is NOT working.
    Anyway I am the only one who is in contact with Mom and Dad so I could have bought something in myself but I’ll never know for sure
    Just seems curious with this new virus….
    I believe that part of this is the changing weather we are having.
    VERY warm this winter so far, perfect breeding ground for all of this gobbledegook, (last year this week it was -36 degrees here)

    My conclusion is that we all have to be on guard and be our own healthcare investigators/technicians, if something seems off, go with your gut feeling and act accordingly
    I’m glad you and the girls are on the mend

  15. Stay with SurvivalBlog for latest information. The American CDC will have trustworthy information. Check your preps for a possible pandemic; avoid the rush. See the >Resources heading here at SurvivalBlog, and read the article several times, = ~~Protecting Your Family From an Influenza Pandemic~~

    President Trump is receiving criticism for trying to keep the Wuhan Coronavirus Flu outside of America, and maybe slow its entry.
    [There are a lot of Americans critical of Trump, when he places >Americans first.] Many times people are left to take of themselves, families and neighbors due to the anti-America agenda of some of our politicians.
    **********************
    **********************

    This article is long, and from the NYTimes. “Wuhan Coronavirus Looks Increasingly Like a Pandemic, Experts Say” NYTimes 2/2/2020.

    “The Wuhan coronavirus spreading from China is now likely to become a pandemic that circles the globe, according to many of the world’s leading infectious disease experts.

    The prospect is daunting. A pandemic — an ongoing epidemic on two or more continents — may well have global consequences, despite the extraordinary travel restrictions and quarantines now imposed by China and other countries, including the United States.

    Scientists do not yet know how lethal the new coronavirus is, however, so there is uncertainty about how much damage a pandemic might cause. But there is growing consensus that the pathogen is readily transmitted between humans.

    The Wuhan coronavirus is spreading more like influenza, which is highly transmissible, than like its slow-moving viral cousins, SARS and MERS, scientists have found.

    “It’s very, very transmissible, and it almost certainly is going to be a pandemic,” said Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease.

    “But will it be catastrophic? I don’t know.”

    In the last three weeks, the number of lab-confirmed cases has soared from about 50 in China to more than 17,000 in at least 23 countries; there have been more than 360 deaths.

    But various epidemiological models estimate that the real number of cases is 100,000 or even more. While that expansion is not as rapid as that of flu or measles, it is an enormous leap beyond what virologists saw when SARS and MERS emerged.

    When SARS was vanquished in July 2003 after spreading for nine months, only 8,098 cases had been confirmed. MERS has been circulating since 2012, but there have been only about 2,500 known cases. …

    The mortality rate for known cases of the Wuhan coronavirus has been running about 2 percent, although that is likely to drop as more tests are done and more mild cases are found.

    It is “increasingly unlikely that the virus can be contained,” said Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, ~>a former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who now runs Resolve to Save Lives, a nonprofit devoted to fighting epidemics.

    “It is therefore likely that it will spread, as flu and other organisms do, but we still don’t know how far, wide or deadly it will be.”

    Closing borders to highly infectious pathogens never succeeds completely, experts said, because all frontiers are somewhat porous. Nonetheless, closings and rigorous screening may slow the spread, which will buy time for the development of drug treatments and vaccines.

    Other important unknowns include who is most at risk, whether coughing or contaminated surfaces are more likely to transmit the virus, how fast the virus can mutate and whether it will fade out when the weather warms. …
    ****************
    ****************

    More information with links at the NYTimes site. It’s a good article; even a blind hog can find an acorn, now and then.

  17. https://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/usmap.htm

    This map indicates geographic spread and does not measure the severity of influenza activity.
    Weekly US Map: Influenza Summary Update
    Influenza Activity Estimates
    No Activity
    Sporadic
    Local Activity
    Regional
    Widespread
    No Report
    *********************************
    Plus information about the flu. Information by each state with a US Map as the source of the links.

  18. Crossed fingers for recovery from the flu bug.

    In the way-back-when, I saw the movie, “Fountainhead”. I’d read the book and then found “Atlas Shrugged” soon after its publication.

    For all her prescience about leftward political drift, I do have one complaint: The “Ayn Rand Syndrome”. Never use one word when 200 will do.

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