Wow, 2020 has been an interesting year. If you had told me a year ago that we would be required to lock down for weeks at a time, and that there would be concerns about food supply as people cleared the shelves in a panic, I would have laughed. And the great Toilet Paper Shortage of 2020?? Who saw that coming??
I never dreamed I would live in a time of a massive virus outbreak involving quarantines on a large scale like what we are seeing. I always just thought those stories were for the history books, and not something we would face today.
If another virus were to spread in the US, would I be prepared -again- to be able to hunker down in a quarantine lasting weeks or even a month? How would my friends and family fare in a quarantine? We have certainly learned a lot from our experiences with quarantine during the Covid-19 outbreak...and it's not even over yet - although I am hopeful the vaccines will start to make a dent in the spread of the virus. I think it's a really good time to re-evaluate what precautions we need to take, whenever the next virus comes along. (I really, really, really hope I am not here for the next virus outbreak to make history. It's been a rough ride, even with a virus that the majority of people survive.)
Learning from our own experience in quarantining my family, here is some of the brainstorm of supplies I came up with for the future:
- Food. Obviously, no one is going to fare well if food runs out. You might say "Well, good thing we have grocery delivery services so I wouldn't have to leave home..." - but that would be operating under the assumption that people are still showing up to work and doing delivery services. I would prefer to plan ahead on this and get food before there's a crisis. Especially because we saw how quickly the shelves were cleared from panicked shoppers - and not just the toilet paper! You can start by stocking up on pasta, canned food, granola bars, and other non-perishable food available at the grocery store. If you want to go a step further and get really excellent meat, dairy, and produce...I really appreciate that there is high quality freeze dried food that has up to a 25 year shelf life - AND it tastes so good that my kids will actually eat it! That way I can stock up now and it will still be available and taste good when the time comes that we need it.
- Special dietary supplements. Do you have a family member who requires a special formula or drink due to medical issues? This would become critical to have ample supply of if there was an interruption in deliveries.
- Medicine and medical supplies. Think about how fast the shelves cleared of basics like ibuprofen, cough medicine, thermometers, and rubber gloves. It can happen again.
- Prescription medicine. What about the prescription medicine you are already dependent on? What if that ran out and supply was interrupted? I know that many providers won't give prescriptions or refills for longer than 1 month at a time. It might be worth finding out what the limit is on having extra medicine, and get as much as you are allowed to have on hand.
- Wellness supplies. Whatever it is you use to boost your immune system: essential oils, elderberry syrup, zinc, vitamins, electrolytes, etc. I really like DoTerra On Guard Throat Drops - sucking on a couple of those wipes out 95% of my cold/sore throats. You're going to want a lot more of that on hand in the event of an outbreak.
- Toiletries & hygiene items. Running out of toilet paper or feminine hygiene products would be disastrous. We learned this last spring!
- Supplies for elderly or babies, such as diapers & wipes.
- Pet food. Make sure you don't ever let your pet food run out, and always have enough on hand for a few weeks worth.
- Sanitation supplies. If someone in your household ends up sick, you're going to want lots of clorox wipes, spray, etc. You'll need to be disinfecting the house (doorknobs, light switches, bathrooms, etc) to avoid other family members getting sick. One place that becomes a breeding ground for germs is hand towels, so having extra paper towels available would be a good idea.
- Hand soap and hand sanitizer. Lots of it. The best way to stop the spread of illness is good hand washing hygiene. Improve your good hand washing habits now and make sure you have plenty of soap to last a few months!
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