Ok, so we're all on edge about the Mexican outbreak of swine flu, here's my question.

I've spoken to a few people at work in the past about the possibility of a Pandemic and how bad it could get. Now that the news is going into typical hyper mode about it, I can imagine come Tuesday when I go in, I'm going to get asked a lot about what someone could do to prepare.

Without giving them the whole Zombie Squad lecture on leading a prepared lifestyle, what would be a good short list of supplies to recommend complete newbies get? Assume that the list should also have a bit of "de-stressing" factor to it, in that some prep might make them behave calmer.

I know that $100 won't protect you 100% but most of the people I work with, that's about the max of free money they have on hand. I figure I'd type the list up this weekend, add some news site links and general info then take a few copies in with me to hand out when people ask what to do.

Added: Maybe a buy this stuff this week, buy this stuff next week kind of list.


EDITED: Changed title to more reflect the subject

If this flu thing actually does become a pandemic, N95 masks are going to become scarce fast. They come in variety of styles, but remember that it's not the mask that protects you, it's how well it is fitted to your face. Vitally important!!

http://www.fluarmour.com/proddetail.php ... awodARm9FA
http://www.jansenmedical.net/n95-mask-r ... of-10.html
http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/21047 ... _Mask.html
The "duckbill" N95 masks are my personal favorite

This looks like a nice little thing to have in a BOB:
http://nwmedicalsolutions.com/pd-person ... -masks.cfm


A thread from a nurse forum about N95 mask fitting:
http://allnurses.com/general-nursing-di ... 97734.html
Edit: this thread is actually not that useful. I'll start one on proper fitting if there is enough interest. If not, I can PM you.

A thread from an avian flu forum about these masks:
http://www.avianflutalk.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=10198

What else besides the masks would a person need? I'm thinking eye protection and some sort of anti viral spray such as lysol for quick decontamination.

I also had $100 and just got back from the store.

I got:

3 cartons of 100 count latex gloves - $20.78
2 cartons of 100 count nitrile gloves - $19.86
4 cartons of 2 pc 95 masks - $11.30
2 80 count Lysol Disinfecting wipes - $7.64
2 40 oz containers of GermX hand sanatizer - $10.24

Total of $69.82

I plan on getting bulk food next and more masks as they come available.

Btw. I recommend buying stuff soon. I took the three large 100 count off of the shelf, leaving four cartons of 50 count gloves behind. On my way back to the register, I saw a Hispanic male arms full of the remaining cartons of gloves. Odds are his family or friends in Mexico gave him a heads up and he was getting ready. (Note: I bought these at a separate store than the nitrile gloves)

Good list. I would add 3-4 gallons of bleach, since you can use a 5% IIRC solution with water to disinfect. A few gallons would go along way.

BTW what is the difference between the latex gloves and the nitrile ones? I know the material differences but what situation would you use one over the other.

Nitrile provides a better barrier from infection for the wearer and is used mainly in healthcare. Latex is commonly used for household stuff and first aid. Both work, Nitrile just provides more protection.

Thanks. I forgot the about the bleach.

I have 5 pair of the heavier Playtex style gloves for things like wiping down counters, etc. I figure that they can be disinfected with a wash and reused. The latex ones I'll keep in my pocket and pull out when needed.


Yeah, its effective and cheap. IIRC Walmart has it for $1.50 a gallon. Add a spray bottle to use to clean.

One thing I added was a short tub big enough to stand in. If things get hairy, I plan on keeping it next to the outside door with about a inch of bleach solution in it to disinfect the bottoms of my shoes when I come home. Step in it and wait a minute or so. Then take them off first thing and let dry.

I figure your street clothes should be ok, where you'd only get exposed when you walked by someone coughing, and you went thru the airborn cloud of water droplets. Rare and for the most part preventable. But the bottoms of your shoes are going to be tracking in who knows what.

BTW, what about adding a good multi vitamin to the list? Seems to me the reason we haven't gotten any deaths on the US side is the overall better general health of the population.

Just remember that gloves and masks won't help you as much as just staying away from people all together. This strikes me as a perfect situation for a bug in, in which case, food is the top priority. There are likely to be continuity of service plans for electricity and water, but food is something that you need to take care of for yourself.

I totally agree on the food part. But one potential problem is that the people who bring you fresh water and electricity and make sure your sewage is removed might get sick. Or decide that they don't want to get sick and stay home. That's noted in the official contingency plans here.

+1 on the food.

I've been lucky in that for the last couple of months, I've been stocking up with $50 a week at the grocery store. My kitchen cabinets are bulging. Haven't had that in a while. Funny, about twice a day I just open all the doors and look at all the cans and smile...

Very true, but if I had to prioritise something on my list, especially if I was a non-prepper who was suddenly trying to get ready. It's a lot easier to tell someone 'go and buy food' than it is to say 'go and buy some barrels that are suitable for storing water and then find a way to fill them and store them in your house'. Probably a good thing to say to them would be to fill whatever containers they already have ASAP. For example, if they have a bath tub and a shower, clean the bath tub thoroughly and fill it with water. Yeah, it won't keep well for a long time, so you'll probably have to purify or boil it, but at least it's water that you actually have inside your home.

So I just got back from a shopping run and picked up these:

10 pack 3M N95 masks (with exhaust vent).....$19.97
5 pack regular surgical masks........................$ 2.87

I figure the 3M masks are to wear before you get sick, the others, after you start coughing, to be responsible. I'm going to shop around and see if I can get more masks cheaper. Home Depot had 8x 10packs on stock as of tonight. I mistakenly picked up one additional 10pack without vents that I have to exchange so I'll see how many are still there tomorrow. If they are all gone, then I'm going to really start worrying...

Additionally:
50ct latex gloves........................................$ 4.97
50ct nitrile gloves.......................................$ 7.50
2x heavy duty vinyl gloves...........................$ 3.98
1x bottle Anti-bacterial soap (7oz).................$ 2.50
2x bottles hand sanitizer (2oz)......................$ 1.39
2x 40ct Wet Ones sanitizer clothes................$ 3.98
3x Bleach (1 gallon)....................................$ 5.00
spray bottle..............................................$ 0.96
small pail w lid (store bleach solution).............$ 2.54

Comes to about $60 with tax.

I realize this is abit light on what we as ZSer would buy for prep. Actually some of the stuff was bought at 2x because I'm putting together a prep box for my sister (non-prep type but worried what with the news), so I saved a few pennies there.

That leaves me $40 to buy additional stuff....Suggestions?

Oral rehydration treatments? If you want to do it on the cheap but more unpleasant route, buy salt and sugar and mix them in the ratio water:salt:sugar 2:1:1. If you want a more palatable alternative, get things like sports drinks powder that replenishes electrolytes.

By the way, the idea behind the salt, sugar, water mixture is that the sugar is for easy nutrition and the salt is to allow your intestines to actually absorb the sugar, since IIRC diarrhoea causes loss of salts required for osmosis (or something, been a while since I studied cholera!).

+1 to which I would add basic sanitation, washing regularly, washing your hands often, avoiding public places or touching public handrails and such will go a long way here. When in public avoid shaking hands and keep your hands in your pockets. Pretend you are Howard Hughes and are germophobic.

So where do you find the N95 and surgical masks? Drug stores, Home Depot, Walmart?

Dang Blackberry caused a double post.

Yeah I was thinking along those lines while I was at the grocery store. They had a special on sports drinks with electrolyte that was very price friendly. Unfortunately a lot of the people I work with are the paycheck to paycheck people, hence their lack of ready cash for an emergency and my attempt to get together a under $100 list. Honestly, I'm not sure a $100 prep can save you but if I can offer a bit of hope to keep people from going postal on me then I'll try.

Of course. I just dumped $300+ tonight on prep I had planned on getting over the next year so I'll probably survive worse case situation...

I'm leaning now towards a multi-part list now. Part 1 would be, "buy this to help prevent getting the virus". Then a second list of "buy this when you begin to get symptoms". I can easily see spending an additional $100 on health and medicinal supplies to see you thru a case of this virus. Anti diarrhea and vomiting medicine, then electrolyte replacements and light food stock (broth etc) to help you recover but I can't see to recommend them buying it now, right off. If things start to look really bad, then yes.

When my sister, who is so non-prep starts worrying, that worries ME. Scottiej in another thread said; "HOWEVER, and this has been said numerous times before on these boards, it's not the ACTUAL threat that's a danger, it's the PERCEIVED threat."

How true. If a week from now we're seeing infected cases in most US cities, then people will be just freaking!!! I see a big part of ZSer's responsibility is putting out common sense advice to our less that informed brethren.

And if I can get 1 in 10 people to start really thinking about Prep even if this outbreak isn't a big deal later on, then that's a good thing. If they chose not to take it, their loss.

Yes, N95 masks are very common. Check the paint department. They are used normally for painting, sanding, etc. You'll also see P95 mask. P means they filter oil based particles, N don't. Not sure whether it matters. 95 stands for the percentage the filter is rated to protect from. There are N99s out there but they are expensive. CDC recommends N95s.

A few people are talking about full face mask and milspec gas mask but I'm not sure the added protection is worth the added publicity. What would YOU think if you saw another person pushing a cart in your isle at the grocery store wearing a full face mask?

Masks with vents are better since the build up of moisture from your breath degrades the mask over time. They are cooler to wear for long periods too. They are a bit more expensive but worth it IMO.

But once you become infected, you shouldn't wear one with a vent, since your coughs carry the virus. Vents pass this right out unfiltered. What the virus does is infect cells of the lungs and forces them to reproduce the virus. The cells eventually explode releasing massive amounts of the virus. This gets expleded when an infected person coughs. The cough, full of microscopic water droplets then hangs in the air. If you walk thru this infectious cloud, then you breath it in and infect yourself. Anything that acts as a barrier to the infectious droplets getting into you is a good thing.

BTW, you can also infect yourself if your hand is exposed and you rub your eyes or nose. It's a low probablity of infection but still there. A good habit to get into now, is not to touch your face until you sanitize your hands.

Something else. Most mask production is done off shore (non-US or Europe). So if this really starts to look nasty then expect to see shortages very quickly. The SARs outbreak saw shortages in Canada within the first 72 hours. Stock up now.

I for one think a pandemic is in the cards if not now then later. Each scare gets me and my family a little more prepared. This is an opportunity to re evaluate my Pandemic Preps and shore up my knowledge and supplies, kinda like a battle drill.

I dread the day the real one arrives...

+100. look at what Mexico is doing -- basically telling people to stay home from elective, gathering type activities and school. I assume if it got serious enough they could tell most people to stay home no matter what and impose some sort of curfew too (ok thats pretty severe, but hey it could happen right?) If you had enough food and water to last you a while then you wouldnt have to risk going to the store and coming into contact with swinos

Dont overlook entertainment either. Sitting around all day gets old after a while, have some books, a deck of cards etc. check out that PAW entertainment thread...

also +1 to whoever said oral rehydration supplies, the simplest being water, sugar and salt. One recipe from a local health agency says 4 cups water, 2tbs sugar and 1/2 tsp salt. and anything else to combat someone who ends up getting infected: fever reducer/pain reliever.

eta: another plug for WATER WATER WATER!!! if you're not sick you need to wash your hands. if you are sick (or not sick and want to stay as healthy as you can) you need to be drinking even more water than normal. ok the water will probably still be on, but if it got turned off..............

That sounds like a much more sensible ratio than the one I put down. Dunno why I wrote 2:1:1 water:salt:sugar, that wouldn't even dissolve...

A great way to save on water is to use hand sanitizer, baby wipes, clean wipes, etc. instead of washing your hands with water you could using for consumption. Of course, not the ones used for cleaning and disinfecting surfaces. Using this will help spread out your water supplies a bit.

I did one last summer that was a bunch more of both ingredients and it was not too great. very salty. but i didnt have too much of a hangover the next day wait, what is it really for

Anyone know where you can get child sized N95s?