Pandemics

I have been thinking a bit on pandemics again. I know that the “Swine Flu” pandemic we experienced a couple of years ago, turned out to be not too bad. It received much hype and media coverage. Many people scoffed at the governments for making such a big deal out of “nothing”, so to speak. I watched many who took it very seriously and took the opportunity to get a bit more prepared with their pandemic preparations. There was such a controversy over the difference of opinions in whether or not to get vaccinated. It was a bit of a crazy time.

I personally took the opportunity to get more prepared with my preparations that involved anything to do with pandemics. I took the opportunity to learn more about vaccinations and how viruses spread. It was a great learning experience, and an even better trial run. That is probably the most important thing that we could have gained from it, was knowledge of just how fast a virus can travel around the world, and what we should have in our homes to be prepared for when it happens again, because it will happen again!

I would like to go over a few things today that have to do specifically with pandemics.

There are some things that you should have on hand in your homes. N95 masks are probably one of the most important things to have. However, you should be aware that they do have an expiry date. The masks themselves, don't expire, but the elastic that holds them onto your face will over time, break down and eventually it won't hold anymore.

Medical gloves are another thing that are really good to have in your supplies. They are great for dealing with sick members of the family, and also for cleaning and disinfecting in your home.

Hand sanitizer will go a long way to killing germs that always get on our hands. We should always wash with a really good soap and hot water, and then use some hand sanitizer. When we are out in the community, at school, work, or other we should always have some hand sanitizer with us. Our hands are the first place that will pick up a virus that is lingering on a door handle, counter top, or other hard surface area. If we can kill it before it reaches our mouth, nose, or eyes, we will be a great source of helping to eradicate the virus.

A few other items to have on hand would include

for cleaning, food and water to quarantine if necessary, vitamins, and medications.

A pandemic situation could usually will last for two or three months and will come in two or three waves as it travels around the world. The government is usually pretty quick with coming up with a vaccination. Here is a pretty controversial topic. Vaccinations! I personally think that there are vaccinations that are good to get, and then there are those that don't make a big enough difference, that it is worth the risk of taking them. I strongly suggest that everyone do their own research and make their own decisions. Be careful of the websites that you get your information from. Some are obviously very strongly pro or con for the vaccinations, but I suggest that you look carefully at both sides of the argument and then decide from there which vaccines you choose to get. Thank goodness it is still a choice for us. I don't know how long this will remain as a choice, but for now we do have the option.

I guess my worst fear for a pandemic is one of biological warfare, where an enemy would actually let loose a virus with the intent to spread and kill as many people as possible. It is a very real threat, one that we should all consider. Then there are also the bird flu variations that seem to be mutating on a pretty regular basis.  Point being that we shouldn't let our guard down.  I know many people who believed that the Swine Flu was just so hyped up, that I am sure when another pandemic swings around, they probably won't even pay any attention to it.  I, however, will watch and pay very careful attention because I am sure that the Swine Flu was just a practice run for us all.  What did we learn?  What did we do about it?

There are some really good sites with info on pandemics and preparations - 

This is a good site here  it give some good info.

I really like Prepared LDS Family they have some good reads.  This link takes you to their suggestions for pandemic preparedness

And finally here is a great link from Ready.gov  they have some great info and good publications that you can get to learn a bit more about what you can do to get prepared for the next one, which could be a big one.

Learn what you need to, and prepare what you should so that when, not if, the next pandemic strikes, you will be ready for it.  Don't look at the last one we had as a big hype and nothing to serious.  It was very serious, and it should have opened our eyes to just how fast our lives can be changed.  One very small virus could take down a huge portion of the world's population in a very short time.