The Prepping Thread - A Newer Beginning ;)

Greenglockenspiel

euronorris said:

Greenglockenspiel said:

Even if it’s the case that healthy people can build up immunity, that would be just to the one strain they were exposed to - that’s why we catch colds over and over again, because it mutates so much. As far as I know there’s no evidence either way as to whether you can catch it twice (or e.g. if people who had SARS have immunity to this). But either way, any bug can be very serious for people with conditions or on immunosuppressants, which is why I am of the opinion that people with infectious diseases like seasonal flu and colds should self isolate regardless of Coronavirus and the rest of the advice applies as well! Even for those of us who are fortunate enough to have good health generally, there’s no point people coming into work as martyrs and just spreading the misery and lower productivity. Pet peeve of mine as you might be able to tell!

I agree in theory, but in practice, people can't call in sick for every mild cold they have. Plenty of employers are not sympathetic to that, and for parents of young kids like myself, it would lead to being fired pretty quickly. We're on at least our 4th or 5th cold virus since late november thanks to DD being at nursery and catching everything going. If I had stayed home for every cold, that would amount to about 6/7 weeks so far. I'd be jobless, and as the sole earner we then wouldn't be able to pay rent so would quickly become homeless.

I do what I can, and practice good hygiene to avoid spread, when in the office I sit at a different desk, away from the others, and I stay out of tea rounds etc. And if it's particularly nasty, I will take a couple days off (I'm home right now), but it is just not practical for me to do that every time. I wish it was, but it isnt.

I don’t blame you in those circumstances - I think we need employers to instigate a change in culture so that they’d encourage it rather than punish it. I wish more people would take those precautions though. I even once caught whooping cough from somebody on public transport! 

Also I was thinking that most office jobs can be done from home with today’s technology, so in those cases there’s no need to take the day off sick if a person felt well enough. At my office there’s really no excuse for coming in as we all work from home once a week anyway so the technology is in place. For other types of jobs for example retail, hospitality, education etc it’s obviously harder to work from home but those are specifically the types of jobs where it’s most important not to come in, as the contact with more people means it spreads more. For example if the staff at nurseries didn’t come in when sick then the children might pass less stuff around - although children are germ factories so that’s a bit optimistic! I think it’s interesting to see how virtual teaching is being trialled in Hong Kong though.

daz378

I texted my sister in America last night...and explained due to the evolving situation can't  promise to visit   she understood and also suggested zinc lozenges   can help fight viruses....couldnt find the lozenges   but did get some zinc tablets from  Holland and barrat....can they help are  they worth trying. 

[Deleted User]

I can't find an article in the Telegraph which we take as a newspaper every day but we've looked online and found an article in the Daily Mirror mentioning 2 variants of the same virus, one more aggressive than the other both were identified when the genome was completed in early January.  70% of the people in Wuhan had the more aggressive variant but cases of that particular mutation dropped off dramatically in early January too.  My DH who is a retired research chemist came to the conclusion that what is doing the rounds in the world now is more likely the less aggressive strain but that's an assessment on the very limited amount of information in the article and no access to actual scientific publications.  

DD1 rang me this morning saying that the virus was very susceptible to zinc according to an article she read online and suggested getting a zinc supplement as a possible aid to fighting off the virus should we catch it.

welshbabe88

Yes I read online like that too MrsLurcher - that the aggressive stain was fading and the one doing the rounds now is mostly the weaker one.  I do hope so - esp for us older and not so full of health people!

unrecordings

Here's what the NHS has to say about zinc
https://www.nhs.uk/news/medication/zinc-can-cut-length-of-common-cold/

[Deleted User]

It will be what it will be welshbabe and undoubtedly it will hit some folks harder than others, it's the nature of being a virus and all humans having different resistance levels to them.  I feel there is nothing we can do to actually prevent ourselves from coming into contact with it, everyday life takes us out into the world and we mix with many other people even passing in the street, we use coinage, cash machines, we push doors open and pull them to go in and out of shops so unless you can live like a hermit from now until this whole thing is over it's inevitable that we will all be exposed. We can however listen to advice particularly the advice on handwashing and be as sensible as is possible and not do the hugging and physical contact that has become the norm on meeting and leaving friends, I think it would also be sensible not to eat out or go for drinks but life would be so very much less pleasant if we denied ourselves everything pleasurable from fear wouldn't it ? so we'll keep going for our coffees for as long as we can and hope that if we do catch this thing we fare lightly with it and make full recoveries very speedily eh?

Thriftygifty

I've been lurking for the last month or so and finally reset my password!
I made DH do a big food shop at the weekend with me as we had absolutely nothing in and off loaded our two small children onto my Mum, one is particularity fond to licking trolley handles!  He's just turned 3 and to old to be doing this.  Things seem to be picking up pace in our part of the country today "a number of residents" were among the new cases today,  we are a few towns away but still to close for comfort.  I feel like we aren't remotely prepared enough, we have enough food for a month but this is normal food not back up food as such, i'm not partaking in the panic buying but do think I need to think more logically about what we actually will need, we are very fortunate to have a larder, add in the fact that i'm 8 months pregnant it adds to the stress of what might be required.  Our main family concern is that my Dad has multiple health issues and lives next door and our only childcare is my Mum, until I go on MA leave.  I'm seriously considering removing our 4 yr old from nursery in the not to distant future as feel this is a main route into our house as it is a germ pit but then feel like I would be punishing him, it's all very difficult, I guess we can only proceed one day at a time, I much prefer preparing for power cuts than a virus!!   

daz378

Thanks for the zinc info

baggins11

Regards the 2 strains of virus I also read that the more aggressive strain was the early version.  It makes sense because they do say that usually the more aggressive the strain the less contagious and the less harmful viruses are usually easier to catch.  I really hope that is the case.

On another note I confess to buying pot noodles in my stock up shop (hides behind the sofa..).  I think to be honest there is far worse junk food in the form of processed meats etc than some egg noodles with flavouring.  We usually would only buy them for camping trips but I figured they would come in handy if we are at home ill. 

I initially just stocked up on flour, yeast, pasta etc and then realised that we might not just be isolating but also ill so I might not fancy baking bread or making full meals!   So I have also bought things like tins of soup, baked beans, pot noodles that can be made with zero effort.  Hearing a recovered patient on tv talk about how exhausting it was to walk to the loo made me re-think the stocking up.  Ideally I would make from scratch some meals to freeze now but don't have the time or freezer space sadly.  The freezer is mainly full of frozen veg as I would struggle to live without veg and I am not keen on tinned veg.

unrecordings

Thriftygifty said:

I've been lurking for the last month or so and finally reset my password!
I made DH do a big food shop at the weekend with me as we had absolutely nothing in and off loaded our two small children onto my Mum, one is particularity fond to licking trolley handles!  He's just turned 3 and to old to be doing this.  Things seem to be picking up pace in our part of the country today "a number of residents" were among the new cases today,  we are a few towns away but still to close for comfort.  I feel like we aren't remotely prepared enough, we have enough food for a month but this is normal food not back up food as such, i'm not partaking in the panic buying but do think I need to think more logically about what we actually will need, we are very fortunate to have a larder, add in the fact that i'm 8 months pregnant it adds to the stress of what might be required.  Our main family concern is that my Dad has multiple health issues and lives next door and our only childcare is my Mum, until I go on MA leave.  I'm seriously considering removing our 4 yr old from nursery in the not to distant future as feel this is a main route into our house as it is a germ pit but then feel like I would be punishing him, it's all very difficult, I guess we can only proceed one day at a time, I much prefer preparing for power cuts than a virus!!   

Just a thought but if you can get it smear a good sanitizer on the trolley handles - not really to cover the immediate risk, but since it (probably) tastes very bitter  it'll hopefully break them out of the habit. For whatever reason you need it, isopropyl alcohol (IPA) is the stuff they make sanitizer from due to it being virtually non toxic