COVID-19/corona virus mega thread/prepping thread

[Jim147]

I read somewhere this morning that .gov and medical are ramping things up I'll see if I can find a link after I get some rest just got in.

[Sindawe]

A fine dual purpose disinfectant,  good thinking.

Only if its around 140 proof.  Everclear is cheaper and easier to get to the right concentation (70% ethyl alcohol).

I got a little more food.  Some rice and canned stuff and some of those red beans and rice mixes.  I might get more canned stuff later as I ended up throwing away some I had that was long expired. 

Same here.  Soups, rice, beans, canned veggies, pasta and sauces.  Also replenished the ground beef and fish in the freezer.  I estimate could go no food for about 35-40 days if I had to just on the reserves I still cart around daily.  These would stretch that out another three weeks or before having to crack into deep survival reserves.

The time to hunker down is coming up real fast. Work from home if you can. You might want to start considering whether your job is more important than your health or survival. There are likely thousands of undiagnosed cases in the US already, and there isn’t much that can be done about it, .gov is trying to avoid causing a wide spread panic, which will happen anyway.

I hope not.  My current role requires I be onsite at the employer's campus, which has several hundred folks at least spread across four buildings with four floors each.   Need to have a chat with a close friend tonight about prep, but odds are she's ahead me on that point.

[Ben]

I hope not.  My current role requires I be onsite at the employer's campus, which has several hundred folks at least spread across four buildings with four floors each.   Need to have a chat with a close friend tonight about prep, but odds are she's ahead me on that point.

Would anyone notice if you showed up to work with protective headgear? 

[Sindawe]

Would anyone notice if you showed up to work with protective headgear? 

OH yea, they sure would.  I do have a respirator with HEPA filters on it, along with safety googles. Maybe I could strap one of the recycle Polycom phones to my chest, put a bucket on my head, add a black cape and tell folks that "I AM YOUR FATHER".

[Jim147]

Nooooooooooooooo!

[Ben]

So I was bored and interested in how people are reacting to this via "last minute prepping", so I did some Amazon and other searches to see what people are making runs on and what the pricing changes are.  Some interesting examples:

Auguson Farms, mentioned above, is out of stock on many items and have a notification that they are dealing with very high volume and asking for patience in lead times. They seem to have their normal prices though, including ongoing sales.

Masks/respirators are all over the place. If you do an Amazon search for "coronavirus mask", you have the opportunity to buy a $2 N95 mask for $30. Or I saw a five pack for $45 plus $45 shipping. On the other hand, if you change your search parameters to something like PPE or farm protection or hazmat cleanup, you could actually get something more useful than just a single mask like this cleanup kit for $17:

https://www.amazon.com/DuPont-Multipurpose-Cleanup-Kit-Polyethylene/dp/B07SQ499NM/ref=sr_1_25?crid=1EGI36JU7NK24&keywords=tyvek+suit&qid=1582465164&sprefix=tyvek+sui%2Caps%2C311&sr=8-25

Or again, since the paper masks are really questionable for most people, since they won't wear them correctly, you can still get half face respirators with something like P100 filters (again ,geared towards construction, farming, etc.) for like $25, which is normal pricing (for now) and they are, IMO, more likely to be properly worn by dummies, if only by accident.

Then if you look at real respiratory protection - i.e., gas masks, regular people don't seem to have discovered them yet. Israeli military and civilian gas masks are still going for their normal prices of around $75 for unused from a reputable dealer. Or, if you, according to PewPewPew Tactical, want one of the best civilian masks on the market, you can still buy a Mira (Texas, USA) CM-6 or CM-7 with one cartridge for around $275, which is their regular price. Though they have a message on their website that their current lead time is 4 weeks.

So it's seeming to me that for your general, non-APS public who don't think past today and don't even keep a first aid kit or fire extinguisher in their house, they are going to places like Amazon in a panic and being treated accordingly regarding prices for often crappy stuff. I even saw plain old dust masks for outrageous prices using the "coronavirus" search, which shows you might want to use creative searches to get the same thing for a normal price.

On the other hand, it appears people familiar with preparedness (not just SHTF, but natural disaster, etc.) who are feeling "under-prepared" are hitting those preparedness oriented sites, and while there might be shortages or long waits, those vendors don't seem to be taking advantage and jacking up prices.

This is occurring during what IMO, is not yet (and may never be) panic time in the US. This seems more like people saying, "Hey, this might get serious and I should have had stuff before, but I'm going to buy stuff now for just in case." I'll be curious to see how it evolves if things here in the homeland get more serious.

[p12]

So your saying I could buy some dust masks and make a killing?

[Jim147]

Couldn't get link to copy but NBC News says Italy has locked down ten towns.

[bedlamite]

Couldn't get link to copy but NBC News says Italy has locked down ten towns.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/coronavirus-updates-10-italian-communities-lockdown-death-toll-rises-china-n1141321

[Ben]

So your saying I could buy some dust masks and make a killing?

Apparently.  

[Ron]

Conspiracy wise who knows the truth?

The one axium you can count on is this, the official narrative is not true at all at worst and woefully incomplete at best.

We're on a need to know and it has been determined we don't need to know much or the truth.

[brimic]

I have a few 3M full face respirators lying around that I wear for grinding or working with paint/solvents around the house. I honestly don’t know if respirators are going to be enough without some sort of thorough decon protocol.

[Kingcreek]

So how much could I get for the free masks I can grab from the infection control kiosk right inside the main door at the hospital?
The hand sanitizer makes great fire starter, maybe I’ll fill a jar or 2 of that while I’m there.

[Boomhauer]

This retardedness is causing supply issues for those of us who do need masks for work...I often wear one for dusty environments

[brimic]

This retardedness is causing supply issues for those of us who do need masks for work...I often wear one for dusty environments

We are still well stocked with N95 masks at work, but I work for a HUGE corporation.

[makattak]

After this weekend, I now have 1500ml of whiskey on hand.

Whew, that nightmare is over.

[Jim147]

Well i might have a weekends worth if you showed up here.

Not a clue what you will drink.

[Ben]

After this weekend, I now have 1500ml of whiskey on hand.

Whew, that nightmare is over.

Pfft. That's like the guy who thinks 1000 rounds of ammo is enough.    

[Jim147]

So if it gets bad here what are you thinking?

Ice storm level run on milk, bread and toilet paper or something much worse?

[Ben]

I was expecting that there would be more negative stock market reaction. I do have to admit though, that I agree with one of the commenters at the URL that Goldman Sachs using the term "non-linear" could get me a little nervous.

https://twitchy.com/gregp-3534/2020/02/23/goldman-sachs-warns-over-coronavirus-supply-chain-inventory-risk-from-china/

[brimic]

Non-linear as in, ‘the big players have slowly and quietly pulled out, and the rest of us end up in a panic sell off’

[bedlamite]

Looks like Peak Prosperity is keeping up with current info:

https://www.youtube.com/user/ChrisMartensondotcom

[Ben]

Looks like Peak Prosperity is keeping up with current info:

https://www.youtube.com/user/ChrisMartensondotcom

That was an interesting video. Especially food for thought was the incubation period and likely 40 day quarantines for safety. Coupled with the current empty food shelves in Italy shown in the video.

[makattak]

That was an interesting video. Especially food for thought was the incubation period and likely 40 day quarantines for safety. Coupled with the current empty food shelves in Italy shown in the video.

I recently had a thought that the grocery pick-up services might be a very useful thing if quarantines become widespread here. No one allowed to shop in stores but the employees, who could put it in your trunk wearing a facemask, at least. (Could go with a whole suit, if people are scared enough.)

We should be able to keep at least food supply chains going with minimal human-human interaction. Truck driver pulls up, stays in the cab. Store workers remove the contents and put them in the store.

Other store workers "shop" for people who have ordered online and load them into a trunk. Driver stays in the car and opens the trunk at home.

There is some possibility for contamination through the goods themselves, but that's a decreased likelihood, from what I've been reading about transmission.

[Ben]

I recently had a thought that the grocery pick-up services might be a very useful thing if quarantines become widespread here. No one allowed to shop in stores but the employees, who could put it in your trunk wearing a facemask, at least. (Could go with a whole suit, if people are scared enough.)

We should be able to keep at least food supply chains going with minimal human-human interaction. Truck driver pulls up, stays in the cab. Store workers remove the contents and put them in the store.

Other store workers "shop" for people who have ordered online and load them into a trunk. Driver stays in the car and opens the trunk at home.

There is some possibility for contamination through the goods themselves, but that's a decreased likelihood, from what I've been reading about transmission.

I think that all makes sense, other than our Just in Time inventory systems in most stores. They are all set up for some set number of interactions per day. You get panic runs, and transportation won't be able to keep up.

If your average moron US resident would listen to even the bare minimum numbers the federal government puts out with 72 hours of food and water, there would likely be a good enough buffer to allow transportation to catch up to demand spike, or to allow the fed.gov to show up with MREs and water. But we have only to look at Hurricane Katrina to see how prepared people are to go even a day without a grocery store.