Your advice to someone new to prepping

[David]

Dave - my lady works for Baycare.

I have family in the medical field as well, from EMT to doctor. I can't recall any of them saying the E.R. was overflowing with lines out the door. And I bet your GF can't say that they did. Things get cancelled all the time for various reasons. Overflowing 'war zone' hospital E.R.'s aren't one of those reasons.

No one is arguing that there were certainly media portrayed ridiculousness.

Good, because they would lose that argument.

But it isn't all the other way as you like to portray it either.

How would you know? You don't look at alternative news sources. So the only exposure that you get to those alternate news sources is what I post here and other places. And you like to rail against it every time despite not really knowing what you're talking about. You're too busy with the 'all .gov bad' to really see what is happening.

There absolutely were ER's that were full up, over busy, and busy with people sporting a disease about you knew nothing about,. Especially very early on.

Really? Where? I knew it is a virus that has a 99.9+% chance of survival. Which is nothing to really get worked up about. As far as busy E.R.'s, well it seems that every one that the MSM reported as a 'war zone' turned out to be pretty much a ghost town when real people went to them and took cell phone footage of empty waiting rooms. And then of course they MSM got caught, multiple times using fake footage. Also, POTUS sent two hospital ships and set up mobile hospitals that neither NY nor California utilized except for peripherally. Seems that overflowing hospitals would have utilized that sort of support. Odd that they didn't.

Yes yes - I know, we are all wrong but you. Everything that happens in the entire world is the media, ANTIFA, the Democrats and the new world order. The sky isn't even blue.

You are right. I IMAGNED procedures getting cancelled. My girlfriend is plant whose entire mission is to make up things for me to tell you as a means of dis-information. I'll stop posting this stuff. I'm clearly a victim of the Democratic plot.

I think you've come unhinged. That is unfortunate.

[bdcochran]

No need to get bent out of shape:
1. this too will pass without improving peoples preparedness and resolve.
Absolutely! This is simply human nature.
The supermarkets in my area posted notices - "no returns".
The fact that my late wife and I were able to travel overland throughout central and south-east Asia without buying toilet paper isn't within the experience of the general public here. When you see people hoarding toilet paper and buying flimsy containerized water when the tap water is absolutely fine, just observe the reactions of panicked people and prepare for the next time, assuming that they panic in the same way.

2. Hospitals closing.
They aren't closing. They are not making the decision of what to do. That decision is with my County Health Officer. You know what an elective surgery is, right? Well, Kaiser and Cedars Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles County are not doing elective surgeries. My "elective surgery". Phones are not answered. Three hour waits for callbacks, if you are lucky. After a few days, I get through and my hand surgery is "elective". I am told that hand surgeries scheduled are being unscheduled, and you are put on a wait list. Given the hysteria, maybe I will be called in July 2021.
You know what a doc-in-a -box is? The doctor with a store front serving all of those Americans who are violating federal law and do not have medical insurance coverage. I have written in a different forum about lines outside those store front doctors being in the range of 9 to 50 people. When the doctor has no cure, no vaccine is available, and the people aren't getting bill of health to be able to fly, there is hysteria.

The 2007 epidemic plan in my county was to exclude epidemic victims from hospitals and put them in tents. The 2020 program is the reverse. Now those people with underlying co-morbidities are not being treated in the hospitals as before, adding to the die off.

3. I have studied epidemics for years. My grandfather died in 1918. It greatly affected the family and I have seen some of the consequences. My sister was head of epidemiology at a major university and now is some kind of dean. So, using a naval term, I cleared the decks for action at the beginning of January 2020. All that is happening now and in 2020 could have been known to members of the forum if they had spoken to a non political epidemiologist or done their own research. This one is proceeding like all the others in history. It is nothing new, just the virus is "new".

[Bob]

Well put BD

I will say that our current understanding of these things is far greater than it ever was before.
Yet we don't legitimately see people following any of the wisdom.

We have a massive ability to gather and analyze information in the past 20 years that has never existed.

What is happening now is a lot of things that have nothing to legitimately do with a pandemic, or addressing it, especially one of this low lethality.

[Bob]

Go out and USE your preps!!!!

[bdcochran]

Sensible preparations - and the last thing people ever do.

My dad was a hard working, generous guy. After he died, I had the task of clearing things out, with the exception of his office. It took two weeks.


Why? He had the same problem that most of us have as well - accumulating and deliberately not getting rid of abandoned projects, broken items that were saved for future repairs, rusted and useless tools, old/dirty/ill fitting clothes. And, I have the same problem. Living in the same house for the last 41 years.

Today, I am addressing the reality that I am not going to be able to seasonally take comforters and store them in the attic. I took down the seasonal fans and cleaned them. Won't be doing that for many more years.

Last week, I grave the grundgy and still functional electric teapot to one of the workers at the house. He is putting it on his boat for which he goes overnight fishing. It had been sitting in the garage for about 5 years. I spoke to the gardener. He is taking oversized plastic storage boxes, the two 9 foot steel pieces left over from my last exercise equipment project. I also cleaned out the 41 year accumulation of odd pieces of lumber next to the garage. I threw away most of the documentation from old tax returns. I gave away the books that I had read and would not keep for reference.

[Bob]

Start now, stick with the basics.

What did we learn from Covid? If you could stay home you won.

Water
Food
Meds

[Bmyers]

Nice simple list

[David]

This isn't necessarily a 'prep' as far as food, water and gear but it can be considered a 'prep' as far as being ready for a potential violent situation. Being in uniform for the better part of 35 years I learned to leave my strong hand free as much as possible in case I needed to access my firearm, edged weapon or kubaton. So for example, if I'm carrying a drink or something I will carry it in my support hand as much as possible to leave my strong hand free.

Just came to mind and figured I'd toss it out.

[David]

If someone has the time...

[Bob]

Right now - DO NOT start prepping for WWIII/Nuclear War

2 weeks without water, food, meds, and power, or police. ALWAYS goal one....