The Prepping Thread - A Newer Beginning ;)

pollyanna_26

pineapple wrote: »

As someone on immune suppressant drugs with the double whammy of a respiratory condition, I'm grateful to those who are taking precautions. So feel free to 'over react'!

Some expert (there have been so many ) on TV said that the virus can survive on surfaces as long as 72 hours - so you simply don't know what's on your supermarket trolley handle etc :eek:. Me I'm going to start wearing gloves when out. A local shop has some unobstrusive 'touchscreen gloves' at £1 a pair - so I can afford to stock up.

pineapple my youngest dd is also immune suppressed , asthmatic and with other health conditions . We are both grateful to those who take sensible precautions. It's not just the present situation . Many people think the flu outbeaks we see each year aren't a cause for concern but to many people either immune supressed or otherwise vulnerable flu can and does take lives.


Both flu and norovirus are widespread in this area as will be the case around the uk so add in the current situation and there is every need to take care.


We minimise going out at such times as much as possible. Only last Friday and the previous one over the last two weeks. That was gp appointments (dd is not required to sit in the waiting room but in a more isolated area of the practice)


We always have and use reguarly a hand foam which is both antiviral and antibacterial and over the years that has been pretty effective. Gave up using cash machines years ago withdrawing cash in the bank is one to one rather than a machine many have used. We are lucky our bank is still on the high street.


Gloves for shopping trollies and doing a quick turn away when someone coughing and sneezing heads towards us. After a while it becomes the norm.


I agree with Lyn over doorstep milk. I've never known any different since childhood. Apart from reducing the awful plastic overload in the uk our milkman is the type who will jump in his float and do an errand in an emergency.


Wishing you well.
polly

mardatha

But Pattypan it isn't flu, it's a pneumonia and new. It might take people weeks to get over it; it might be infectious for weeks after they do get better - its new so nobody knows. Either way it's going to be very very disruptive until they get a vaccine for it.

pineapple

Thanks Polly

I was always a cash sort of person but I'm using contactless payments more and more - no cash, no keypad! The other thing I do is wear a long scarf and as soon as someone starts coughing near me, up it goes round the face. I was 'trapped' in a surgery waiting area last week and one of the staff was coughing up and down the corridor! As you say, taking precautions becomes the norm.
All the best

ivyleaf

About wearing gloves when using shopping trolleys etc - it sounds sensible, but you have to touch the outsides of the gloves in order to take them off so would they really help? Genuine question, not picking holes, as it were.

Karmacat

Ivyleaf, its a good point - you need to learn how to take them off without touching their outsides - turning them inside out and disposing without wafting them about. I don't use gloves at the mo, I use antibac hand gel.

boultdj

ivyleaf wrote: »

About wearing gloves when using shopping trolleys etc - it sounds sensible, but you have to touch the outsides of the gloves in order to take them off so would they really help? Genuine question, not picking holes, as it were.

In the nursing home I use to work in, we were taught to take gloves off by using one gloved hand to pull out the wrist part of the glove on the other hand and pull it up and then with the ungloved hand go to the back of the wrist on the still gloved hand and put your finger's down the back of your hand inside the glove and again pull down, so the first glove ends up inside the second glove which is now inside out and you've not had to touch the outside of either glove, hth.

euronorris

pineapple wrote: »

As someone on immune suppressant drugs with the double whammy of a respiratory condition, I'm grateful to those who are taking precautions. So feel free to 'over react'!

Some expert (there have been so many ) on TV said that the virus can survive on surfaces as long as 72 hours - so you simply don't know what's on your supermarket trolley handle etc :eek:. Me I'm going to start wearing gloves when out. A local shop has some unobstrusive 'touchscreen gloves' at £1 a pair - so I can afford to stock up.

A sensible precaution. My 3 year old has caught another cold. Lots of sneezing and tissue use in the supermarket, and me stuffing the used tissues in my back pocket until I could get to a bin. Then she sits in the trolley at the end, i'm loading stuff onto the conveyor belt and turn around and she's rubbing a tissue along the handle bar! *face palm*. Luckily I had antibacterial gel with me, so I wiped it down after, but I bet she isn't the only toddler spreading germs unwittingly like that!


Sorry to hear about the potential exposure Airthrey. Glad you are well prepped to self-isolate though. Fingers crossed all will be fine in 14 days.


We have started building up more a stash. Doubled the loo roll, got loads of rice in, and pasta, and pulses, and tinned fruit, and replenished the UHT stock (dates went! Whoops!).

mardatha

Before a Pandemic

Store a two week supply of water and food.
Periodically check your regular prescription drugs to ensure a continuous supply in your home.
Have any nonprescription drugs and other health supplies on hand, including pain relievers, stomach remedies, cough and cold medicines, fluids with electrolytes, and vitamins.
Get copies and maintain electronic versions of health records from doctors, hospitals, pharmacies and other sources and store them, for personal reference. Get help accessing electronic help records.
Talk with family members and loved ones about how they would be cared for if they got sick, or what will be needed to care for them in your home.

During a Pandemic

Limit the Spread of Germs and Prevent Infection

Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
When you are sick, keep your distance from others to protect them from getting sick too.
Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when coughing or sneezing. It may prevent those around you from getting sick.
Washing your hands often will help protect you from germs.
Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth.
Practice other good health habits. Get plenty of sleep, be physically active, manage your stress, drink plenty of fluids, and eat nutritious food.

ivyleaf

That's clever, boultdj, thanks! Tbh I hadn't realised people meant disposable gloves

I'm being extra careful about handwashing, and have warned OH to as well. Whether he'll remember is anyone's guess.

[Deleted User]

I don't believe in conspiracy theories and doubt it's a bioweapon, it's a new virus and humans have no immunity to it because it IS new which means many people will catch it and have a bad reaction, some people will be immune to it and hopefully from those people will come the wherewithal to make a vaccine now the genome has been shared round the world. In all situations like this it's sensible to take it seriously and make every effort possible to avoid catching it but there is always speculation and fear and panic because it is a horrible thing. We don't actually know the truth of it all and probably never will but like SARS, MERS, EBOLA the WHO have a finger on the pulse and there will be people all round the globe working very hard to control and halt the spread and find a way of combating Wuhan virus and it will sooner or later be a thing of the past.