Coronavirus
Coronavirus. I spend a lot of time thinking about Coronavirus. Partially because it is in the news every second of the day, and partially because it is an easy thing to obsess about. When I’m out of the house, I am paying attention to every surface I’m touching and reminding myself not to absentmindedly rub my eyes. When I’m home, I’m thinking about never leaving the house.
Except that everyone else in the house often leaves the house. So not leaving the house doesn’t actually protect me. Or them.
It’s hard to gauge how much to worry. I don’t worry about the flu, and the flu is much more widespread. (Though I do get a flu shot yearly, so that may explain why I don’t worry about the flu.)
Many years ago, right after 9-11, there was a day that anyone living in certain cities–D.C. and NY, for example–were encouraged to make an emergency kit. What if you couldn’t leave your house for several days? What if water and electricity were shut off? What would you need? We got canned food and a manual opener. Peanut butter. Candles. Matches. Hand sanitizer. Jugs of water.
We didn’t keep up the box over the years, though the candles and matches are still in there. But maybe we should. Maybe we should do an inventory of what we would need if we couldn’t go outside for a week or two and gather those items. We can use them and replace them until we feel like this is over. Or maybe that’s just unreasonable panic looking at this through the media lens, which regurgitates the story again and again. It’s hard to know what to do.
Though I guess purchasing a case of black beans can’t hurt.
12 comments
I have had to follow this story closely for work. I don’t think it’s a drill. It’s not an existential threat to humanity and no one should panic, but I do think it’s smart to be prepared for disruption – meaning cancelled school, working from home, and limited access to groceries and supplies. This article is a good one – what Americans should have on hand to prepare: Here is a good article about what all Americans should have on hand, given the coronavirus:
https://www.buzzfeed.com/emmalord9/coronavirus-news-preparedness-kit-china-symptoms?origin=shp
I am not qualified to comment on whether we should or shouldn’t be worried, and how much, but I will say this feels worrisome to me. I live in a household of 4 which includes an octogenarian (my mom), my DH in his 60s who is a former smoker and tends to get respiratory illnesses more severely than the rest of us when a virus moves through our house, and a middle schooler. So, I feel like we are, though in other ways insulated (we are, you know, privileged, which being in the U.S. means things like, we have health insurance), there are things about our profiles that make us vulnerable (I’m in my 50s, so based on what we know so far, not “high risk,” but not “low risk.”).
I am doing a bunch of things, many somewhat surreptitiously as I think both my husband and mom would tell me I’m being unduly anxious. I’ve stopped taking public transportation (my usual way of getting to work). I’ve stopped eating food prepared by other people (i.e. from restaurants), though I probably won’t refuse to go out to a restaurant if my DH suggests it (it’s more, skipping boxed lunches provided at work meetings and bringing my own from home instead). Both of those are things that I can do easily and in the latter case, probably should do anyway, just in general (eating healthier, less expensive). I’m stocking up on things in the “recommended” way, meaning basically buying more of non- or low-perishable stuff than we’ll use immediately and stashing it. I’ve decided not to buy tickets to events or plan on attending any social get-togethers. I’m not very social anyway, so this isn’t a big deal. And of course I’m washing my hands obsessively, also trying not to touch my face, drinking water/tea more diligently than usual, and being better about getting enough sleep.
Oh, and ~ a month ago, my son and I were both sick but I wasn’t convinced we had the same bug (his was fever, cough, no appetite, mine was head congestion, mostly), and our household had only 1 thermometer which meant I was washing it obsessively. I’ve now bought another thermometer and will buy a third (one per household member, my mom already has one of her own) when I get a chance.
I’m in the same place as you. It is on my mind but I don’t want to cave to the fear. I have done a limited stock up on canned foods, non perishable snacks, but I’m not filling my house with toilet paper and bottled water just yet.
I worry more about my kids getting sick, in general, than this virus specifically. Although it’s scary right now. Just like so much of what happens every day out in the world.
Everyone around me seems to be in a full-on panic, and I have to try to put blinders on or else I could’t live my life. I have an immune deficient kid and a mom with so many medical problems it seems hard to think she’d survive this. (And both their deaths would be so easily dismissed as “underlying health issues” as if their lives aren’t still important.)
We wash hands. We clorox wipe everything (restaurant tables, movie theater seats). We use paper towels or tissues to open door handles and push elevator buttons. We avoid indoor/crowded places from November through March. There is literally nothing more to do but hole up and not leave the house, and I’m not willing to go there yet.
Hopefully this blows by quickly.
My husband talks nonstop about coronavirus. I am…not particularly worried about it. I read today that no one under 15 has been diagnosed, so it seems if they get infected, it’s so mild as to be unnoticeable. So, I don’t have to worry about the kid getting sick. I don’t worry about myself getting sick, and my husband doesn’t go out much. Obviously, I am the most likely vector, because I’m out and about the most.
I bought some extra bottled water, replenished by cough medicine and ibuprofen supplies, got a few extra shelf stable groceries, and consider myself ready for whatever. I assume if it even reaches the Midwest, I’ll be fine.
We did one stock up shop and bought some more low-perishable items than we normally consume. We buy a 1/2 cow every year, so our freezer is already stocked with meat. I’m not too worried about getting COVID-19, but am worried about the disruptions in everyday life. My company just issued a domestic travel ban. I think I will go crazy if I’m stuck in the house with my kids for two weeks while trying to work remotely! Our economy has already begun to be impacted and tourism industries will be hit very hard.
Yes flu is more widespread but COVID19 is more deadly—about 20x as deadly—based on what is currently known. And spreading. And no vaccine. Definitely more worrisome than flu. Especially considering the idiots in charge and the CDC pandemic unit being eliminated, etc.
My kids need their parents—essentially no family to take over if we die—so we are worried about *us* getting it, not just our kids.
Well, I’ve already been through SARS (Toronto was the epicentre of the North American outbreak) & the H1N1 scare about a decade ago, so I’m feeling a bit of deja vu here. This does seem to be more widespread, though. I am not overly concerned (yet) but I am trying to remember to wash my hands more frequently & all those common sense things we really should be doing all the time anyway. Both Purell & face masks vanished from the drugstore shelves several weeks ago (there were reports of people buying cases to send to relatives in China), but so far, no panic buying in the supermarkets, etc. I did buy a new bottle of Tylenol and some cold pills at the drugstore today. We don’t have a lot of space here in our condo to buy & store food in bulk, but right now the freezer is full & we just did our weekly shop so I feel fairly well stocked. And I just bought a new bottle of Lysol cleaner and a can of wipes as all this started unfolding.
We don’t have an actual box or kit, but we do have a lot of the recommended items on hand. After the big power blackout of August 2003, I went out & bought a hand-cranked radio with a built in flashlight (& vowed not to give up my landline WITH a corded phone, after too many people told me their cordless phones were useless and their cellphone battery died). We missed the big ice storm here in Toronto at Christmastime a few years ago — but I was visiting my parents in Manitoba last October for (Canadian) Thanksgiving — just in time for a major blizzard/ice storm. We’d JUST finished eating the turkey when the power (and thus also the heat!) went out & stayed out for 27 hours. We also lost water, cellphone AND landline service. We were just lucky it was -2C outside and not -20C or worse! I bought a few more flashlights & a case of bottled water for our condo after that one, lol. My sister has been house hunting and says she never wanted a fireplace before this, but now she’s feeling like it might not be such a bad thing to have, lol.
One thing I started doing when H1N1 was a concern 10-11 years ago was wiping down all the things I touch most frequently, at home and at the office, at least once a week, with a Lysol or Clorox wipe — door handles, light switches, phones, remotes, keyboards, etc. And you know, the number of colds I’ve had since I started doing that has dropped dramatically! (Not completely, but noticeably.) I’ve been doing it as part of my weekly cleaning routine since then, but may step up the frequency a bit, depending on how things shake out.
Yeah, it’s getting pretty hard to ignore. I didn’t start worrying until I saw everyone else worrying, and then it was kind of like, if I don’t stock up on some things like beans and rice and peanut butter and tuna and soups, there may not be stuff left by the time I get truly worried. Which I guess is how mass panic works.
I didn’t see bottled water on any of the lists, but our bottled water shelves are bare in our grocery stores. My students are freaked. I am washing my hands a lot (and will be wiping down stuff like Loribeth!) and trying not to touch my face, but as soon as you vow not to touch your face your face is the most tantalizing and itchy thing imaginable.
I worry because my dad is in California, has breathing issues, and was diagnosed with Parkinson’s a year ago, so although he’s only 64 I feel like he’s vulnerable. And he lives alone. And I have asthma and got the flu despite a flu shot, and found myself attached to a nebulizer 4x a day so I could breathe.
But yeah, I’m trying not to panic. Just washing my hands a lot and definitely before I eat at school, and we wash our hands when we enter the house before doing anything else. Eeek.
I stubbornly do not want to worry about this. I hear and read about people stocking up and thinking a lot about a pandemic, and I just don’t want to. I may be sorry in the end, but I just can’t get worked up over stuff like this. It kind-of feels like the Y2K craze, or when people freak out about impending snow storms. I just don’t care. I’m trying to be more empathetic to those who are truly worried, but I think I’m coming across as a jerk when people bring it up. One of my co-workers said she was more worried about mass closures and the hit to the economy, and again…I just don’t think it’s going to happen. Time will tell I guess.
I haven’t been that worried but my husband has been in panic mode a lot of the time. I think it’s good to be alert and sensible about it and no harm stocking up on some things just in case you need to self quarantine!
We live in an earthquake zone, so having emergencies supplies is essential here. We have water, and canned food, and torches and batteries etc. In fact, this week there was a reminder in our newspaper that earthquake preparedness is – so far – far more important than Covid-19.
I’m concerned about Covid-19 only because it will probably curtail some travel plans – or at least, the uncertainty is curtailing travel plans. We were planning on driving north sometime in the next few months, and visiting my sister and her family as well as having a bit of a holiday. But my niece is one who has respiratory difficulties (she has cystic fibrosis), and I don’t want to risk taking any illness to her. Likewise, travel plans to Asia for later this year are so far on hold until we see how this plays out.
We’re responsible for my 90-year-old father-in-law, so I’m much more worried about him, as he gets daily healthcare visits, but that would be a prime way to spread the virus amongst elderly and vulnerable people. And if we get sick, we won’t be able to visit him and help him.