Can you survive the flue?

It looks like any true concern about the new swine flu can be shelved till fall. But you can still take this opportunity to check your preparedness preperations. Are you ready for a viral outbreak?

While I don’t claim to be an expert, I do believe I know a few things about dealing with viral outbreaks. I love zombie movies and I listen to Coast to Coast during my frequent nights of insomnia. Don’t laugh; you can learn a lot form crazies and science fiction.

In a true epidemic you need to be prepared to quarantine yourself in your home for 30 to 60 days. They say that even with a really bad outbreak you can expect your utilities to keep running for at least 30 days. So that makes the job of being prepared a lot easier.

The first thing you need is food. We have pretty good food storage. Not perfect, but we won’t run out of coffee and cereal. Our meals may get a bit unusual towards the end, but we should be able to eat. I did pick up some powdered milk this week. It only lasts a year and we don’t use it so I don’t usually have it. But I thought about eating all that cereal without milk and added it to my grocery list this week.

In this emergency you don’t need to worry about water, but you may want to make sure you have a water purifier anyway. While water should be available, if there is a problem it may take a long time to get fixed. No need to take any chances. We don’t have a water purifier but we do have bleach and know how to boil water.

The next thing you need to consider is entertainment. Don’t underestimate the destructive power of boredom. The last thing you want is a familial reenactment of the mutiny on the bounty. It is important to your immune system to keep your spirits up. It has been shown that fear and worry depress your immune system. As long as the Internet keeps running, I think we will be OK. We have books, games, movies etc. to keep us going. I think a new Wee game would be nice, but we could survive 60 days locked up together without it.

Once you determine that you can survive a quarantine you need to consider preparedness for the actual illness. I put this second on my list because there is less you can do. Unless you can score some Tamiflu the only thing you can really do is build your immune system. You already know how to do that, although few of us really do. Get enough sleep, eat at least 5 servings of produce every day, keep your stress levels manageable, and get regular exercise. By the way, going back to your quarantine plan, can you continue to eat 5 servings of fruits and veggies, and exercise while quarantined? There is some question as to how well and how long those masks you see in the newspaper photos work. If you are going to try them, stock up this summer, while they are available and affordable.

If you do get sick there is even less you can do. First and most important- don’t go to a hospital or clinic unless it is life and death. Your family doctor would be the best option for antiviral medicine, if it is available, if it is effective against whatever virus you are dealing with. A good first aid kit that includes your favorite cold medicine will help. This new swine flu affects the upper respiratory system so a humidifier will help as well. Again keeping your spirits up is important. Don’t underestimate the power of the will to live.

You can’t be prepared for every emergency, but every day the news offers us scenarios to consider. How prepared are you? Could you survive the latest threat? How would you handle what is happening over there? If you are prepared, you don’t need to fear.