What personal preparations are reasonable for coronavirus?

Post date: 2020-02-26 17:34:33

What are the best steps to take to prepare for limiting possible coronavirus infection if/when it comes to my area and weathering possible lockdown? What practices do current best evidence suggest are reasonable? I'm having significant anxiety about possible coronavirus infection, although I live in the US and am not currently in a known outbreak area. I would like advice on what type of preparation for the possibility of community spread of COVID-19 in the US might be reasonable versus overly anxious.

I've never been much into prepper culture but the COVID-19 news is hitting a sweet spot of anxiety for me. I had H1N1 flu in 2009, got pneumonia, was severely ill, had to be hospitalized, could have died. I have asthma so I am higher risk for complications from respiratory illness. I find the idea of getting an illness like that again scary. In retrospect I wish I had taken any precautions when H1N1 was in my area.

Based on current data it appears likely that the new coronavirus will spread around the world. I'm considering doing some preparation in the hope of both making it less likely that I would catch the virus and feeling better about the possibility of being homebound for weeks to months. I would like a Metafilter Reality Check on what things I'm considering are reasonable caution versus anxiety-fueled overreaction.

Really I want to know what practices are reasonable given current evidence. What would you do/are you considering? Here are some ideas that I have:

- Try to get a 3-month supply of essential medications, like my asthma inhalers

- Build up a few month supply of dried food that I/my family would eventually eat anyway, like rice, beans, powdered milk, dried spices.

- Get medical supplies now ahead of it reaching my area so that I could limit infection if I had a sick family member. These might include masks, gloves, disinfectant (what kind?), maybe other things? These I feel like are not insane to get because they could be used other times when people in my family are sick.

- I'm considering a respirator but wondering if that is crazy.

- Consider limiting nonessential travel. I travel a lot for work and it is starting to spike my anxiety. But how to make these decisions in a reasonable way? I have trips to Europe planned for late March and June, is it crazy to think about canceling if there is spread throughout Europe in the next few weeks? What about the 10,000+ person work conference next week with people coming from all over the world? Is it worth doing the mask/glove/disinfectant thing while traveling?

- What else?

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