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A question for preppers

Printed From: COVID-19 / South Africa Omicron Variant
Category: Main Forums
Forum Name: General Discussion
Forum Description: (General discussion regarding the coronavirus pandemic)
URL: http://www.avianflutalk.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=37327
Printed Date: March 28 2024 at 7:04am


Topic: A question for preppers
Posted By: DeepThinker
Subject: A question for preppers
Date Posted: May 12 2018 at 1:18am
When it comes to pandemics what is the focus of your prepping?     Is it focused on trying to avoid exposure?   Or are you prepping to simply be self sufficient during the chaos that would result?

Is avoiding exposure a reasonable goal?   Do you think there was a single soul in the entire world that lived through Spanish flu without being exposed?   Lets say you hunker down and get lucky and the first wave misses you.   Do you think the virus will stop there?     Strains very similar to the pandemic one circulated for decades after.

I work in a rehab/skilled nursing faculty.   I have noticed a trend many of my co workers seem to be afraid to touch people.     They always have masks on and gloves on and even still are super careful.    I on the other hand realized...   if i am working in this environment I will be exposed to what ever is there wither I like it or not.   So I have lost my fear of touching people.   Of course I take proper precautions with bodily fluids and I am constantly washing my hands.    My co workers that don't like touching people seem to get sick all the time....   I am lucky enough not to get sick very much.   Yea maybe  I am mixing up cause and effect here but I think it is a very interesting little personal  case study.



Replies:
Posted By: carbon20
Date Posted: May 12 2018 at 1:39am
in the Spanish flu,50% of people were infected and 50% of them died,

My plan in the very very worse case is, bug out, scavenge what I can, and make for the place I think is the safest, after the pandemic is over, by worse case ,I  mean the "slate wiper"this is about 98% kill rate,if this ever happend ,where I live that would mean there would be in the whole of Western Australia ,about 200,000 people left,in the metro area about 100,000,

rats and vermin would take over,so out of the suburbs and into the Bush,we live near the ocean so fish aplenty and plenty of kangaroos to eat,would I be lucky enough to survive,im aware this could happen so, myself and all on this site are a jump ahead of the MOB, (Mob is a Aussie slang for a flock of sheep )
Hope it never happens, even though I think we humans are killing the planet.....


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Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.🖖

Marcus Aurelius


Posted By: DeepThinker
Date Posted: May 12 2018 at 1:55am
Carbon...   50% "Got it"   I think is miss leading,   Probably 99%+ where exposed.   A few had natural immunity and probably the majority of the rest had some type of sub clinical infection.

If you managed to live through the slate wiper by avoiding exposure.   Wouldn't you be living in constant fear of accidentally exposing yourself as you go about living in this post pandemic world?


Posted By: carbon20
Date Posted: May 12 2018 at 3:18am
not really, because we all know isolation is probably the best way, going on the theory that if the virus kills all of it's hosts then, it should die off with no  where to go, you would have to leave the cities,for a good few years, and if you had to go back then you would have to take precautions against many other  disease's the slate wiper at this point would be the least of my worries wild dogs, cats, rats  all surviving by feeding on the dead,not a nice scenario, the flies here are bad enough in an ordinary summer, can you imagine if they had thousands of bodies to breed in.
This is not a fantasy,it has happened many times before..............only with no jet travel to help it 


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Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.🖖

Marcus Aurelius


Posted By: Technophobe
Date Posted: May 12 2018 at 3:51am
Avoiding exposure would be paramount, but simple survival is not enough.  My own approach in a slate-wiper would be to save as many as I could.  I have several acres (not enough for a big commercial farm) and a few barns.  Friends and family are told to bring a tent and bug out bags, then set up in the barns where a quarrantine system would be enforced (if necessary nastilly) until the danger is past.

I have a very low-tech approach, as then there is less to go wrong.  I have nearly a years supply for about 30 people (with rationing, foraging, hunting, scavenging and fishing to suppliment) and loads of seed.  The land could support that many as well, but I could not also afford to keep many animals on the farm, as the feed for 1 horse could feed 4-6 people for instance.  So ploughing would be by a chain gang and specific groups would be responsible for fishing trips to the local beach (it is far enough to need a 2 day trip) and there would be an almost communist division of labour.  My hill is high enough to preserve seed potatoes and I have a store of sarpo mira potatoes which are both starchy and the most disease resistant strain of all.  I have ocu to interplant with the spuds, this also reduces pests and disease.  It is resillient enough to survive anything and has no pests here.  Should the spud crops fail it can even provide a stand-in. A simple 4 crop rotation reduces disease and increases yields without chemicals.  We have been experimenting for years to find the best local crops for this.

Weaponry is scarce in Britain and it is necessary in such a time. Medicine and supplies of engineering equipment are also outside my ability to provide in sufficient quantities as well.  The nice thing about a large group, is there are many people to spread the scavenging and work between.  Big groups also provide better defensive forces.  My well is a distance from the farm and water here is pumped by electric.  So if the power fails, suppying power to pump this will be a problem.  I have a diesel generator, but I can't afford anything else for now.  Come the appocalypse, that will be the first problem the workforce will have to sort out.

I also still need a culture of various fungi, as our diet would be largely vegan (With a few hunting/fishing successes, and a few carefully bred super-tough chickens to complete the picture).

Here is praying it never happens.  I like my modern civilized life with all its luxuries and the survival one would be very, very hard.  But, a quick look at history/archaeology tells me that something will 'rock our world' one day.  I am not one of those people who would welcome it.  Not yet God, please!  But, it will come some day and if it does so on my watch we will be mostly ready.


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How do you tell if a politician is lying?
His lips or pen are moving.


Posted By: carbon20
Date Posted: May 12 2018 at 4:10am


Might be a comet ,like the one that wiped out the dinosaurs then we are screwed lol


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Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.🖖

Marcus Aurelius


Posted By: Technophobe
Date Posted: May 12 2018 at 4:13am
That depends on the warning we get.  I have low-tech bunker plans too.


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How do you tell if a politician is lying?
His lips or pen are moving.


Posted By: carbon20
Date Posted: May 12 2018 at 4:36am
LOL,

I stopped prepping after watching a show about preppers,

The wife of the prepper,had survived POL POT ,

She said if you going to survive you will ........




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Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.🖖

Marcus Aurelius


Posted By: CRS, DrPH
Date Posted: May 12 2018 at 12:31pm
Times have changed a lot, folks.  Communications are better, and huge sums have been spent on pandemic preparedness by US and other governments.  I think the crazy part would be over fairly quickly, but get ready to see a lot of military & emergency personnel.  I wouldn't get in their way.  

A widespread pandemic would impact water supply, so make sure you have a plan to meet your water needs.  This may require finding a natural source of surface water close to your home.  I live on a small chain of lakes with good water quality, so I've stockpiled some basic water treatment chemicals (ferric chloride, polymer etc.) to knock the bugs & tadpoles down.  Sand filtration also helps. 

The virus doesn't magically fly through the air, so sheltering in place is the best option vs. roaming around or bugging out without a precise, safe location.  A battery powered weather radio would provide valuable contact to the outside world, and prepare for power outages if workers become sick.  

Most important is to have a stockpile of your necessary drugs.  I have epilepsy, so I have a generous stockpile of anticonvulsants on hand.  We also stockpile painkillers every chance we can.  Other must-haves include chlorinated compounds (bleach will do), alcohol hand rubs and topical antibiotics. 

My father had the Spanish flu and survived, so not everyone died.  Also, a lot of the deaths were secondary bacterial infections/pnuemonia, and our hygiene is much better in this era. 

The last Ebola outbreak in West Africa was a nice dry run, we are seeing a vigorous public health response to head off the latest one.  There is no guarantee that influenza will be the source of the next pandemic, there are other candidates in the woods, waiting to break out.  We must also be concerned with man's innate evil, and the possibilities of a released bioweapon.  

Stay safe, keep your gun powder dry and be alert.  Best, Chuck


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CRS, DrPH


Posted By: Penham
Date Posted: May 12 2018 at 12:35pm
We prefer to be self sufficient if possible. We have a garden right now and have seeds for future use. We both fish, my significant other likes to hunt deer and turkey with a crossbow (he keeps trying to get me to go with him, but I am not sure I want to go hunting) I have learned to use the crossbow though. Our house is paid off, so we can't be kicked out, we will stay where we are. We could probably survive about a year with the food we have on hand. Water is another story, only have a couple cases of bottled water on hand, but we do have a 12,000 gallon in ground pool we could use water from if we had to.


Posted By: Penham
Date Posted: May 12 2018 at 12:38pm
We recently bought night vision equipment just for fun, but will be useful if needed in an emergency situation.


Posted By: carbon20
Date Posted: May 12 2018 at 2:53pm
I did start a thead not long ago ,about HAM radio your Cell phones might not be any good ,

anyone  watched   "THE LAST SHIP"


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At the helm of the USS Nathan James en route to the Arctic, Capt. Tom Chandler learns that the destroyer will be in the best possible place -- a circumstance his crew must utilize -- to save humanity from extinction. A virus has wiped out more than half the population since the ship embarked, and de… MORE
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Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.🖖

Marcus Aurelius


Posted By: carbon20
Date Posted: May 12 2018 at 2:57pm
Map of Western AustraliaI



this is Western Australia ,there is only two roads in one from the north and one from the southwest,One airport, we live in the most isolated city in the world ,2million people live in the whole of that space ,given a world pandemic we would shut Western Australia down .from Perth to Eucla is 18 hours drive, takes 3/4 days to drive the Nullarbor Plain,i'v done it 50c on a good day.....its HOT out there ,


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Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.🖖

Marcus Aurelius



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