Author of The Blackout Book and the online course Bloom Where You’re Planted
So here we are. Right on the cusp of that SHTF event that we’ve been prepping for all these years.
A global pandemic.
A breakdown in the supply chain.
Shoppers who are already becoming agitated and even violent.
We’re watching it all unfold in our hometowns and across our nation right now.
Yet, somehow, it still doesn’t feel real to me. Is it just me who finds this hard to fathom? Am I the only one who still thinks doubtful thoughts? Like “No way. It’s going to be okay. You’re overreacting. It’s a little scare, just like Ebola and MERS and SARS.”
I’ve researched and written about this stuff for years. I always knew it could happen. I was whole-heartedly convinced of these possibilities and yet when this situation began to move irrevocably toward disaster, I find myself, somehow, shocked.
I can’t be the only one who has prepared for this yet still feels stuck in normalcy bias, thinking “this isn’t going to get as bad as you think” even as I watch the events unfold around us pretty much like we in the survival community always predicted. There’s still that doubtful voice in my head, making me wonder about spending even more money on another “last” shopping trip.
Heck, maybe this makes me a bad prepper. A fake survivalist. A fraud.
Or maybe it’s only natural to think that life will keep moving on pretty much like it always has.
Will Covid-19 really be the thing that brings us down? Will the nation devolve into chaos? I’d like to say no with firm conviction. After all, there have been close calls before. But the rational part of me won’t allow that firm conviction, despite the part that says, don’t be silly, everything will be just fine after a brief blip.
I believe it’s okay to feel this way as long as you don’t allow it to get in the way of your preparations or of your acceptance of the disaster when it actually unfolds in all its shocking reality.
Maybe I’m oversharing here and a whole bunch of folks will unsubscribe. I don’t know. But if others are feeling the same way, I want you to know that you aren’t alone.
Instincts vs. Normalcy Bias
I think people have come down on one of two sides since the Covid-19 virus first came onto our radar back in late December or early January. Some people have thought, “This is the next plague” while others have thought, “So what? The flu is more deadly.” Now that we’re down to the wire, we’ll soon find out which line of thinking was the most accurate.
A lot of this goes down to a decision. Are you going to believe your gut or are you going to believe the logical normalcy bias that tells you this isn’t how things go in the United States of America?
My gut has been telling me since mid-January that this thing is a major event. After all, would China have tanked its economy and locked down a city of 20 million people, welding their doors closed in many cases, if this novel coronavirus was no big deal? Would Italy have locked down their entire country and begun turning away patients over the age of 65 to funnel resources to those more likely to survive if this was just another common, everyday flu?
But the logical side of me says, “This is the US. We will be just fine.” Because we’ve always been just fine in my lifetime. We were bruised and shaken, but bounced back with fierce resolve on 9/11. We were fine when Ebola reached our shores back in 2014. We recovered after Hurricane Katrina and Superstorm Sandy and all the other named storms that have hit. We’re Americans. We are resilient. It’s who we are.
However, our resilience may not be enough to conquer a crisis that was badly mishandled from the get-go. It may not be enough to overcome less than a million hospital beds in a country with more than 327 million people. The enemy is a virus we know hardly anything about and we can’t even believe the numbers out there from China or our own government.
People are getting tense.
This afternoon when I heard there was a press conference in the Rose Garden at 3 pm, I had a bad feeling. I wondered if my calculations were off when I figured that we could begin to see major quarantines in about a week. I headed to the store with my 19-year-old daughter to get there ahead of the crowds that would certainly be imminent if such an announcement was made. We picked up extra cat litter, extra pet food, some hardware, and extra frozen vegetables.
When I went to the grocery store, I saw that frozen veggies were on sale 10 for $10. I grabbed 10 bags of frozen spinach and saw a rotund angry-looking woman glaring at me. I gave her a “what?” look and she said, “Aren’t you going to leave any for other people?”
I said politely, “I’m sorry. Did you want some of the spinach?” I picked up 3 bags from my cart and offered them to her.
She said, “No, I don’t want any spinach. A$$hole.”
I replied calmly, “Okay, well, have a nice day” and left with my spinach. I wasn’t about to get into an altercation at Kroger over a one-dollar bag of spinach the other woman didn’t even want. It looks like that de-escalation course I took paid off because my first instinct was not to be pleasant and disregard her insults.
I saw the tension on people’s faces as they pushed their carts quickly up and down the aisles, the tunnel vision obvious. If someone stopped in an aisle – a common thing to do at the grocery store – the folks behind them would give a loud sigh of annoyance. I even saw a couple of people bumping into others with their carts – whether it was carelessness or deliberately done, I couldn’t tell.
I left the store with my purchases, happy to get out of there and content with what I had. I know that I’m as well-stocked as I can get with the money that I have. If it’s not enough, then we’ll move through plans B, C, and the rest of the alphabet.
The official response
I can’t be the only person who finds the official response to be much too little, far too late.
To be perfectly clear, I don’t really blame the President or the Vice President. They’re in a rather impossible situation in which no matter what they do, the outcome is bad. If they shut everything down completely, there would be panic the likes of which we’ve never seen. And the economic fallout would be exponentially worse than it already is.
This also impairs their ability to be totally forthcoming. While people in the preparedness community would prefer brutal facts over soothing fiction, most people really don’t want to know how bad things are or how bad they’ll become. So the government will continue to dance around the subject until they can dance no more and we reach a point where the truth is obvious to even the most obvious clinger to normalcy.
On the other hand, the press conference at the White House left me feeling even more uneasy than I had felt before.
Parading a bunch of CEOs before us and showing that ridiculous flow chart that looked like something a 4th grader might hand in for a school project certainly did nothing to make me feel like things were “under control.” I don’t care at all what the head of CVS pharmacies thinks about the outbreak or his ability to keep stores running.
In fact, the main thing I gathered from that is that CVS, Walmart, and Target will be the distribution points that remain open during the crisis. Mom and Pop stores may not have access to warehouses or supplies. This way it will be easier for the government to ration things out and enforce rules like “one bag of rice per household” should it come to that. I actually posted an article about this topic a few months back.
I thought that President Trump looked and sounded unwell during the press conference. Whether that is the effect of stress or he’s become ill, it’s impossible to say.
All in all, I was not reassured by anything in that press conference.
What is exponential growth?
Rationally, I’m aware that with the increase in confirmed cases and the exponential spread of this virus, we’ve probably passed the point of no return. The New York Times explains exponential growth with this chart. These are the number of cases confirmed on certain dates.
- Jan. 21 — 1
- Jan. 28 — 5
- Feb. 4 — 11
- Feb. 11 — 14
- Feb. 18 — 25
- Feb. 25 — 59
- Mar. 3 — 125
- Mar. 10 — 1,004
And on the morning of March 14, we’re up to 2175 cases. As the “drive-through” testing facilities open up with free tests, we can expect that number to grow quite a lot.
The magnitude of the outbreak creeps up on you; it doesn’t look like things are growing very much, and then suddenly they are. Today, the U.S. is up to at least 1,714 known cases and we’re only a couple of days on from when it was 1,004. It’s going to be 4,000 by Monday, and then it’s going to be 8,000 by next Wednesday, and then it’s…. Exponential growth is staggering when it takes over.
Exponential growth is a classic pattern in which numbers stay small initially, but then you end up with very large numbers very quickly. If you start with a certain number, and then multiply that number by a growth factor every day, depending on what that growth rate is, you’ll see the cumulative number doubling over a certain time period.
What really matters is how high that growth rate is. In the U.S. right now, according to Our World in Data, confirmed Covid-19 cases are increasing by about 30 to 40 percent per day and the total number is doubling about every two days. (source)
This is exactly the situation that China, Italy, Iran, and all the other countries with massive outbreaks have found themselves in and the United States is probably next.
Is the SHTF really happening?
We are still at a stage in a shell game and nobody knows which shell the SHTF is hiding under. Nobody knows if we can reel things in and gain control of the situation. Nobody knows if we’re going to go the way of Italy, where an entire nation is locked down and singing from their balconies to raise morale in a desperate situation.
I wonder if people who have lived through horrible situations ever imagined in their wildest dreams how bad things would get. I know that in Selco’s book, SHTF Survival Stories, he wrote about this. Nobody ever truly expected things to happen the way they did. There was a period of adjustment and all the rules changed but a lot of folks didn’t accept the changes soon enough and they did not survive.
When I silence the part of my mind that says, this can’t be happening, I’m only left with the realistic part that says, “Yes. It is.”
While we don’t 100% know how this pandemic will play out in our country, we have to be ready for things to go badly. In her book, The Covid-19 Survival Manual, Cat Ellis talked about the inability of our hospitals to handle thousands of patients. We have less than a million beds in a country of 327 million people. And most of those beds are not in places equipped to handle highly contagious sick people. And what about the people with other health issues? Our medical system won’t be able to handle exponential growth no matter how hard they try or how much they want to help.
When I look at how grocery stores and discount stores across the country look like a horde of locusts went through and decimated the inventory, I know this is a bad sign. When a friend who manages a large grocery store says to me, “Our truck was only half full today. If buying and inventory continue like this, we will be out of food by Monday,” I can only imagine the havoc that stores out of food will wreak.
It’s going to be like Black Friday times a thousand, something I’ve written about for years.
This entire thing is surreal, isn’t it?
If I’ve written about and prepared for the SHTF for years and am having trouble wrapping my head around the fact that we’re in the early stages of it, what must it feel like for someone who is brand new to the concept?
It’s one thing to watch it happen someplace far away from the screen of our laptops or televisions but entirely another to watch it unfold at home. However, we have to accept it and we have to act quickly and decisively. One of the most important things I’ve learned from Selco is about accepting the new rules.
One of the most important things he taught me is to adapt quickly (immediately) to the “new rules” that apply when the SHTF. And to do that, you need to know what it’s like so you won’t be shocked…frozen…paralyzed by the things taking place right in front of you. When there is a new set of rules, the old rules no longer apply. The rules about waiting patiently for the government to save you? The rules about how people won’t walk up and steal from you in broad daylight because they’ll be arrested? The rules that you will get paid for your work and then you can go to the store and buy what you need?
Those rules will be gone. And when you start seeing these new rules appear you will know that the sh*t has hit the oscillating device and the world as you knew it has changed.
I know this and yet I still think (hope) in one part of my mind that it won’t happen that way here. That’s the most dangerous misconception in survival.
The other part of my mind knows that it could. And that’s the part which propels me through getting prepared despite what the doubtful side whispers.
It’s not just you.
So if you’ve found yourself not quite believing what you’re seeing, not quite believing that all hell could break loose in America at any point now, you aren’t alone. If you look at everything heading to hell on a greasy slide and think it doesn’t feel real, it’s not just you. I’m feeling that way myself.
I’m sharing this because I bet a lot of people are feeling the same way. Second-guessing themselves. Doubting themselves. Feeling like they aren’t good preppers. You aren’t alone and I’ll bet a whole lot of folks who won’t admit it feel this way too.
We don’t believe it because we don’t want to believe it. We never actually wanted to be right when we stockpiled and learned skills and bought more supplies that we actually had room to house.
But the thing that puts us ahead in this situation is that we prepared anyway. We learned anyway. And when we see the more obvious signs of a societal breakdown we will be able to accept it a lot faster than those who never even considered it.
About Daisy
Daisy Luther writes about current events, preparedness, frugality, voluntaryism, and the pursuit of liberty on her website, The Organic Prepper. She is widely republished across alternative media and she curates all the most important news links on her aggregate site, PreppersDailyNews.com. Daisy is the best-selling author of 4 books and runs a small digital publishing company. You can find her on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter.
Maybe it feels that way because of what we are seeing in the media.
Do you remember the Swine Flu that killed 12,000 people and infected around 60 million people here in America? If not, it is probably because a Democrat was in the White House at the time. Could you imagine the media coverage if a Republican were president? Right now, Wuhan Virus has killed nearly 45 people and infected at least 2,250—and the media is painting an apocalyptic picture with glee. If there is one institution that is preventing a national unity in handling this crisis, and poisoning our minds, it’s the liberal media complex.
And where was the media when this epidemic was getting started in China? Impeachment mode. Their reaction when Trump instituted a travel ban from China? Cries of racism. What stories did they play up when the epidemic start going around the world in February? The Democrat race for president. But now, that Biden is the presumptive nominee, the search for the next big thing has found its mark.
CNN has the Dow Jones ticker up and running when the market is in freefall, but it magically vanishes once a rebound begins. When the president holds a press conference with his medical experts, cabinet members and business leaders with big news on the new measures that will be taken against the fight against the virus, those in the media are commenting about how “white” the participants are. Disgusting.
As The Federalist’s Sean Davis aptly noted, the media must hate you. They hate that they failed to rig the 2016 election, failed to make Russian collusion stick, and failed to make impeachment stick, and their latest effort on behalf of the 2020 election is to destroy the economy with the help of a virus. They want us to be punished for not believing their fake news for the past four years. But Trump is still our president. These losers in the media need to deal with it. And people need to take them with a grain of salt at this point.
agree 100% with this. I noticed at Friday’s press conference that nobody in the press pool was wearing masks or gloves as they passed around the microphone.
perhaps Darwin will cull the MSM press herd.
Admin user says:
“Perhaps Darwin will cull the MSM press herd.”
A lovely thought, and may I add:
Perhaps Darwin will cull the MSM, the bankers, the oligarchs, all politicians, many religious leaders, all marxists, all satanists, all pedophiles, and anyone who does not love and speak the truth. Amen.
Thank you very much! Yup, H1N1 (Swine Flu) infected almost 80 million in the US. Between 12,000 and 18,000 died. And the lame stream media gave Obama/Biden a tongue bath over how “expertly” they handled the disease. They attacked POTUS for a travel ban from Asia. Also there is a vast difference in the personal hygiene of Americans versus that of Asia and Europe. I was deployed to Bosnia during the civil war. And I went back and worked there for 2 more years. The toilet was a hole in a ceramic basin in the floor. If you used paper, you put it in trash can next to the hole. Sometimes there was a real toilet. Most Europeans wash their clothes even less than their bodies. Sorry not a bigot, truth.
The left can’t defeat POTUS in an election so they are trying anything to attack him. The press conference was excellent. The partnership between the private corporations and the public sector will be a good thing.
“Most Europeans wash their clothes even less than their bodies.” brought back memories of living in a village in Germany in the 1960s. “People take baths on Saturdays. Nice people take baths every Saturday.” and the sign on a public building on Saturday “Heute Bad” (Today bathing). I was only a kid at the time living in a rented house at the edge of town with an indoor shower. I wonder how much has changed since then? Looking at overhead satellite images, very little has changed visibly since we were there.
Do they still dump wine squeezings in the empty lot across the street from where we lived (which made for an interesting odor in the fall)? The vineyard that was next to the house we rented is still there. Do they still slaughter pigs in the neighborhood with blood running down the street? Do kids still roam the vineyards for snails to sell to France for pocket money? And this was in relatively advanced West Germany, what about the rest of Europe?
I agree! I wonder what happens if no one can go vote this fall? Will Trump remain in office until things get better?
Sent this mail out to my e-mail group
COVID slowing down?
Could be….but, here are a few key paragraphs from an article that point out the politicizing going on in this country.
“Democrats desperately need coronavirus to continue across the globe, sparking financial panic everywhere it spreads. Only a financial meltdown will stop Trump in November, and they know it.”
“Having toilet-paperless voters panicking at the polls is exactly what Democrats want and need. That alone should cause every American to question Democrats’ loyalty to the voters.”
“Coronavirus is dangerous. It can even be deadly, just like everything else a human being can catch. It is not, however, going to destroy the world, despite the fact that fear on that level is exactly what Democrats want.”
“In the U.S., presently, the death total is 0.000009 percent of the population — 31 out of 330 million.
Those deaths are tragic, but they shouldn’t start or propel panic, especially when panic is exactly what the left and the media need to stave off Trump.”
Russia, Russia, Russia, Stormy Daniels, and impeachment have all failed to date to stop Trump, so now the dems and their lapdog media are looking for something else. As of yesterday at 10:00 am, the US death toll stood at about 39,…..26 of which took place at a nursing home in Seattle according to Mr. Snerdly on the Rush Limbaugh show. Where he got that info was somewhere on the interwebz.
You can read the whole article here, there are some good statistics in there.
https://lifeandlibertynews.com/2020/03/12/new-figures-show-countries-are-turning-the-corner-on-coronavirus-but-democrats-need-us-scared/
What Taiwan did to avoid the brunt of the COVID impact.
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/what-taiwan-can-teach-world-fighting-coronavirus-n1153826
Bill
“Not every item of news should be published. Rather must those who control news policies endeavor to make every item of news serve a certain purpose.” — Joseph Goebbels , Reich Minister of Propaganda of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945.
Dont worry about those low numbers of deaths in the US. The US numbers will get into the 7-10 digit range once the virus gets into the homeless camps, prisons, jails, and senior living centers.
The editor has always been the gatekeeper.
Here’s another one.
https://www.libertybell.com/mit-biologist-calls-deep-state-fear-mongering-over-coronavirus-a-huge-fraud-heres-what-he-meant/
Bill
Damn it is surreal. Intuitively I walked to a grocery store by me and left with $35 worth of stuff. No cases water, just gallon jugs. A display of 12 packs of toilet paper in front and people buying 12 packs of it with nothing else in their carts. Rice nearly gone. No paper towels except individual rolls, of which I got 6. ????????⁉
As an old analyst, ( Forensic Historical ) now 76 years, my position is that we have not been in a
( reality zone ) for over 100 years. That being said, living an any spectrum, takes a bit of introspection.
United Nations education UNESCO, effectively removed critical thinking, and has created a “Psychopolitical” controllable underclass of citizens.
Speaking to the idea of preparation, one must as you are helping citizenry do, speak to both sides of the coin. Yes, we have an issue, while reeasizing that, for example the MSM has a vested 24 hr advertising need,
and more to the point Rothschilds family holdings owns both the AP, and Reuters news aggregators.
So, in the end, I believe one should promote both 90 day food supplies, with simple shelf rotation ( Quality control ). Same with medical supplies, bleach, etc.
Going to the issue of when SHTF, your work is very supportive –
I feel the same way! I definitely understand the feeling of doing one more “last shopping trip”. I have gone out shopping almost everyday these past two weeks to different types of stores just to add on to my supplies and to see what’s gone/still available. I’ve gone to the Dollar Tree, CVS pharmacy, Local grocery stores, etc and starting to see more and more empty shelves and more stores posting limits on products. I have noticed the energy of the shoppers have become more panicked and aggressive. I live in the NY area and people are getting really worried. I won’t be out shopping anymore for a month (Or more) because I am prepped.
I agree. I feel the same way. My youngest is having the hardest time with accepting the fact of how people are acting and just how bad it’s going to get. But the plan is in place for that reason. More so now after hearing that a neighbor around the corner has a co-worker that’s been tested, my oldest daughter heard from her neighbor (across town) that they were told at morning formation about 2 cases on the local base, a customer was told “it’s not for public release, but we have 3 cases here in the hospital (next county over from me) you can tell your friends and family.” SHTF is here wether we like it or not.
One of the reasons why I started to prep back in January was your website and also watching Infowars.
Infowars predicted back at the end of January that this was going to be a pandemic of epic proportions. Mike Adams was on one of the broadcasts and did a computer model of how exponential numbers work.
And I got scared.
Your website has prepared me all along. I thoughtfully absorbed your advice. Selco’s advice was good…but scary…considering what happened in Bosnia was pretty recent history.
I could kick myself for not preparing a little better. I started to stock up on items back in January.
But, I will not be too hard on myself. Some of my friends are totally oblivious to what is coming down the road. In fact, they think I am a conspiracy theorist in need of a tin foil hat and psychological intervention.
When you see countries like Poland and Italy totally shut their borders, you must be living in la-la land not to see the writing on the wall.
It is just a matter of weeks…maybe days…when the US medical system becomes overwhelmed.
I plan on sheltering in place. Luckily, I have that option.
With underlying medical problems I have no choice.
My sincere thanks to Daisy and Selco for opening my eyes.
Everyone stay safe in these uncertain times.
It doesn’t feel real because we can’t read the future. Will we have the starving hordes rampaging up and down our street, or will fema be able to get food to the whole country. Plan for the hordes but be overjoyed if they don’t materialize. Will 14 days solve this crisis, I doubt it, but the future is uncertain, so maybe.
My point is we don’t know exactly how this thing will play out. That’s why it feels unreal. We just have to take it one step at a time. Day day, hour by hour, or even second by second in a fire fight.
A lot of people haven’t really decided down in their gut whether they can take a life or not. No more waffling or that decision. You make up your mind on that question RIGHT NOW. Have you gotten you guns out and cleaned them yet? That really, really needs to be done today. Have you rinsed out your water barrels and filled them yet? Both of these are on my agenda today.
Don’t let yourself get overwhelmed. Pick something and do it NOW. Then pick something else and do it next. Keep your list very short, or the indecision will overwhelm you.
Predictions are hard to make. Especially about the future.
You are probably feeling that way because subconsciously you know it is pretty much all hype. just as Tamara Foran mentioned. The numbers just are not there and all the attention does not add up.
However there is somethings we should be learning from this:
1) That the Sheeple can be easily spooked.
2) That they are paying attention to us Preppers and our survivalist ways.
Look at all the stocking up they are doing ( even though most of it is on foolish items).
3) That a lot of them expect violence to occur, if society breaks down and are stocking up on guns and ammo.
So we need to glean from this that the sheeple will be frightened if a real SHTF scenario happens.
Frightened people with guns is a bad combination.
That they will be out looking to stock up on stuff and expect violence to be a part of life during that time.
Which probably means that they would be willing to use violence on anyone who has stuff, once they run out. So for everyone planning to bug in, in a city, this is not good news.
The same goes for those who live near a large populated area.
So you better have your preps well hidden and be very aware of how far the smell of cooking food will travel . The end result of that, will probably be a frightened, angry and armed mob, at your door..
I have been feeling this way.I didn’t wait for the schools to close though. On March 10, I informed the school district that I would be homeschooling my child until the virus burns out. I suspect I may have much longer then that though. I March 11, I found out our state had its first confirmed case. Always follow your gut, don’t worry about what other people think.
Great article! I find myself in the same situation, who or what to believe. Common sense tells me this is being driven for political purposes, but I find myself living in an environment where I have to respond as if it’s true. Standing on a soapbox declaring all will be fine means nothing so long others around you are responding in a manner that indicates it is real. You still have to have food, water, etc and if people are hitting the stores buying up everything and anything, you best stock up yourself. It feels like a self fulfilling prophecy. Real or not, it’s here now. My wife says I’m overreacting but I’ve been in law enforcement for 39+ years and I have learned that reality is what people believe, whether true or not. expect the best but prepare for the worst. One thing for sure, no guessing game here, out economy (oh hell the world’s economy) has taken it on the chin. It’ll take a while to recover from that. America’s youth are not at all prepared for what’s coming. They don’t have the knowledge, the reasoning ability to handle true stress or life challenges. This truly makes this country ripe for revolution. Watch your top notch!
KWF- 26 years law enforcement here. The virus is scary, but the people are the real danger. “Apocalypse Syndrome” sets in and the rule book and normal behavior is gone. I read somewhere the other day we should consider this a marathon, not a Sprint. Good advice.
So true, you know how people react under stress. This has to go through its cycle. I feel for LE because I know their local emergency operations center are running them ragged. Talk about a headache, dealing with eggheads who are usually overreacting just to impress the powers that be! Each doing one additional action or request to show “they” on the team. Talk about the blind leading the blind, dumbasses
Thank you Daisy, for speaking to my heart and mind. Yes, we are not alone, even though many may not agree with our “drastic measures”. Our watchman call helps us to recognize, such a time as this is now! A month ago when hubby and I were in agreement over the seriousness of the situation we headed to Costco to top off our preps. The most shocking thing to us, was how empty the other carts were, as he pushed the large orange cart and I filled the regular cart. The fun part was, we didn’t need to buy toilet paper, because for years we bought 2 (sometimes 4) when they were on sale. But second guessing our expenditures, on our limited budget, can be taxing. Organizing, putting things away, planting the planters, one more amazon order, putting on gloves to get the mail – then spraying it down with colloidal silver, and a myriad of changes getting ready to self quarantine is severely taxing. Then there is the exhaustion of wading through the news articles and cranking up the discernment levels. Work and rest — work and rest. We have been self quarantined for 3 weeks now, and every morning when I read the news I feel vindicated. So, your articles was like a warm hug. Thank you for your insights and encouragement.
You are speaking my thoughts. I feel like I have been preparing all my life for SOMETING that most of my friends and family just shrug off as that crazy aunt with all her food and stuff. Now, suddenly facing this very real possiblity of disaster I am scared. Finally after 48 years my husband has finally, fully fallen into line with my warnings and is desperately trying to talk sense into his own family members still with little success. Both being in our 60’s and definitely high risk we have gone into about 80 percent lock down. Payday isn’t until wednesday and one hopeful part of me Hope’s I can make one more store run for last minute things but how can you fight something you can’t see and how important is that last fresh salad verses your survival. I know realistically I am as prepared as I can be but the the anxiety is always there. I try to limit my news updates to twice a day but changes happen now in hours and minutes. Because I am extremely rural we may be at the end of the train but also have the worst healthcare if we need it. We drive 90 miles just for a family practitioner doctor as opposed to just a nurse. Being healthy here is scary. Becoming sick is a death sentence. So I weight the odds of one last contact or just locking down. Which is right. I have no clue.
Ever get one of those feelings in the pit of your stomach? The ones that stop you in your tracks at least for a few moments. I had one on Thursday afternoon. It hit me that for eleven years or so I have been actively prepping and learning skills that would help me get through a disaster. Now I am facing the twin disasters of financial turmoil and a pandemic, along with colateral damage like irregular food supplies, theft, short tempers etc. It was sobering to me, very much so.
So right now I want to thank all of you that have shared your experiences, ideas, successes and failures for prepping over the years. They have greatly shortened my learning curve, helped me make prudent decisions so my money goes further and is spent wisely on prepardness. THANK YOU.
Normally I do not comment, but a couple of items need clarity – Being trained in ( Forensic Historical )
research/analysis the ides of “in the gut” is important. IMO
1. We have been deluded for over 100 years. Book: The Creature From Jekyll Island 5th edition. ISBN# 978-0-912968-45-6
2. Since we have been deluded, Trump coming into the picture, makes the delusions visible. The key is to gain the trust of the young especially, as they have been bombarded for their lives, of negative or more subtle, omission of processes necessary for appropriate decision making. Trump is not ideology oriented, politically, but at best, Constitutional ( considering we have not used it for Nyx on the 100 years ).
3. When any part of society is so far out of the presumed reality, chaos erupts. The chaos, ignoring the facts that China is and has been ( at war ) with us since 1948, The United Nations is not who their cover story implies, WE, become disconnected from our illogical MSM, educational manipulation. In effect our mooring is missing. Trump is rebuilding our societal mooring, while being vilified for moving toward a socially and politically Constitutional Government.
Wow! This is a lot to chew on. Thank you for the book reference. I’m going try to find this book.
That book was written by G. Edward Griffin. He used to have it available from his own web site, but I just went there and didn’t find a link to buy it. So, by all means avoid Amazon; here’s a link
I also recommend G. Edward Griffin’s news aggregation web site, needtoknow.news. Also you might be interested in a gathering he’s coordinating AT Jekyll Island with other like-minded people. He calls it “The Red Pill Expo.”
I see the links were automatically removed. I’ll try another way:
thriftbooks_dot_com /w/the-creature-from-jekyll-island-a-second-look-at-the-federal-reserve_g-edward-griffin/246146/#isbn=0912986468&idiq=13437184
redpillexpo_dot_org
I went to stores today because for last min preps and it seemed like people were being extra nice to others. Extra polite more interactive, Kind of a we are all in this together attitude.What really scares me is going back to work on Monday. I am a nurse in a doctors office and the doctors seem to think the flu is more serious so when I say I’m worried or upset or use too many cleaning supplies cleaning they give me are hard time. I asked if there was anything I could do to work from home like call patient on the phone and I got yelled at. I want to quit but I’m afraid that if the economy tanks I don’t want to be with out a job. I may just use sick days when I’m not sick but how long can I keep that going on for. I thought when the end of the world came I wouldn’t have to go to work anymore. This sucks
I didn’t want to read your article, knowing I would be having to confront the same things going through my own head. First universities in our state closed this past Tuesday, then programming was shut down at libraries, parks, museums while staying open for other business. When the K-12 schools decided to shut down Thurs/Fri, those other venues decided that people would bring their kids there and shut down completely. Even our church decided to close its doors for services.
Stores here are crazy. The simmering panic is evident in people’s faces and behaviors. I’m not even sure most know why they are buying what they are buying. I went to buy some baking extract I needed. No water, toilet paper, rice, canned food, bleach, even vinegar was sold out.
The most poignant moment of the week for me was Thursday night when I drove by a little shooting supplies store that normally has 1-2 cars there on any given night. The parking lot was completely full as they were getting ready to close. That was wake up moment.
My takeaway is to consider the trickle down effects of the shutdowns and the strain on supply chains. No way to predict but “it ain’t gonna be pretty.” Americans are resilient, but can we overcome the collective panic when life changes profoundly and the way back looks impossible?
In all honesty, we won’t know if this is our SHTF moment for some time yet. There’s too many unknown variables in the equation to predict where we’ll be 1 month from today, accurately forecast what will happen Vs what could happen. I too, noted the desolation at the grocery store yesterday evening, but didn’t witness anyone fighting over items or confrontations between shoppers or staff. Everyone was well behaved and talkative even. As I mentioned to one fellow shopper, the empty shelves right now aren’t as much of a concern, as empty shelves 2 weeks from now.
At the same time, when I stopped to top off my gas tank, the other pumps were empty. Driving home, I detoured and went by several other gas stations and noticed the same thing, hardly anyone getting fuel. This was a little perplexing to me. If things go from bad to worse, the ability to get the heck out of Dodge is a priority. Apparently my neighbors don’t share that priority.
The worst thing about this crisis so far, is the dearth of misinformation that’s going on. So many predictions, often conflicting, that one questions who to believe, and I include some of the so called experts in there as well. The main stream media is a prime culprit/co-conspirator in fueling this crisis to the point of national panic. Their role in this drama is a serious concern, and they need to be held accountable for it. Add in the usual political skulduggery and party pandering, and the stage is set for an even bigger collapse.
Will the Wuhan Virus exceed the catastrophe of the Spanish Influenza? Who knows for sure, but our supportive care capabilities in this day and age, are far superior to the supportive care available in 1918. Even at home, our abilities and access to knowledge outstrip what our Great Parents were capable of
Will the Wuhan Virus be the end of things as we know them? While it’s possible, I wonder if it’s provable. In the end all we can really do is prep for that possibility.
People are going nuts! They are scared. I’m not, yet, but I am washing my hands more and using hand sanitizer when I don’t have soap and water. I’m also not going into large crowds. But then, I wasn’t before either. I’m a prepper, so I’m pretty prepared for whatever life throws my way. I do need to go and get more soap. We only have a bar or two left. I’m not going to buy up a case, just enough for a month or so.
I can’t be the only person who finds the official response to be much too little, far too late.
I usually agree with you on most issues but I am going to disagree with this. What exactly could the administration really have done sooner? The political partisan divide insured that nothing was going to move forward until the crisis reached a specific stage. We’re at that stage.
Depending on teh government to save us is a huge mistake. We need to save ourselves. We have a roommate who is determined to continue going into work. I warned him two weeks ago, when the first instance of coronavirus occurred in our city, our house is going into lockdown.
He’s been rationalizing why he needs to keep going into work. We’re locking down. If he leaves, we’re not letting him back in.
We’ve got enough food and water to last six weeks if we’re judicious. I’m 60, my wife is 54, our roommate is 25. Our risk factor is too high to indulge his fantasy that everything is fine.
Admin user sez:
“What could have Trump administration done sooner?”
He could have realized the severity of the situation and not made absurd statements downplaying the situation.
He could have mobilized forces sooner.
He could have made sure needed resources where available.
He could have stopped going golfing as Rome burned.
Did you know that the Trump administration would not use available CV test kits. His administration insisted on developing our own CV test kit, and once developed the test kits would not work. That is why there are so few CV test kits in the US.
His attitude and actions verge on incompetence.
And before anyone starts ad hominem attacks, I am not nor have I ever been a Democrat.
I have followed you Daisy way before the others and will continue. I wait with bated breaths for your next email and scour your site and the prepper daily news. I trust you Daisy. From an internal viewpoint I think a lot of ppl do this same thing it’s how’s how we keep our sanity in an insane world!!
But we keep prepping because it’s part of our DNA
WE are from pioneer stock and heritage! ! ! Our ancestors settled this country and we’re survivors! I always take my thoughts back to those days and stories told by the fireside and the struggle and death they faced on a daily basis and no one but each other to talk to about it. Those tough women picked up a shotgun and protected their families. They wrung a chicken neck to cook dinner after working in a field of dirt all day. Plowing acres of land with a mule and harness. Those are the real type of people we all come and we first and foremost will pioneer our future whatever that future may look like.
We will strike out just like our ancestors and tame the wild country with only a dream and a prayer. WE are moulded from the past we are warriors and survivors!
We love you in this household Daisy!!
Daisy,
Thank you for all of the articles on this new virus. I found out about this disease and became concerned enough to prepare for it months before everyone else because of your website. I started making smaller purchases a little at a time to put aside—so I managed to get my hand sanitizer, soap, and toilet paper before anyone else seemed to think we needed it. My giant grocery bill to prepare for this quarantine/lockdown was lessened because you sounded the alarm early, and I broke it down into smaller weekly runs. I started talking to my extended family weeks before they heard about this from anyone else, so by the time they heard it on the news they took it more seriously. My husband’s job (thankfully) sent him to work from home, and now that things are getting serious, we’re ready. (I have more disposable diapers for my toddler than I thought it was possible to store, hah.) Thank you for writing about this and expressing your concern. You genuinely helped me make the push to be more prepared, two months ago, and now that we’re here and sort of “looking at the precipice,” I am so, so thankful that I got ready. I appreciate it, thank you.
I just want to say thank you for your words of reason.
It is good therapy for you and your readers to know others are feeling similar… speaking of therapy , people keep your hands busy , write , knit , whittle , draw…..etc me I tie large , intricate knots ( I’m an old sailor) ,the idea is not to be idle/ paralyzed take control of what you can do not give that control up.
Who knows what will happen? I live in the middle of nowhere. People that don’t live here, are all of the sudden here. Buying all the tp and cleaners and now, the food. This woman had all the tp she could carry in her arms. Smiling she informed me she had to send it to her kids in Pittsburgh. She had been to every store around here and nowhere had any. Just this little Amish store in the middle of the woods. I said Don’t be surprised when the tp and cleaners are gone and they start in on the food. She gave me a disgusted look. Well everything will be fine. By next week it will all be back to normal. I looked square at her and said No. It will not be normal next week. She huffed off but there is the disconnect. That cognitive dissonance we’ve discussed so many times. It won’t happen here. We watch as spectators as the world burns and convince ourselves that only happens far away. Not here.
I appreciate your thoughts, Daisy. As someone who ran a preparedness website for a few years, I’m glad I’m not doing so now. I don’t feel like correcting misinformation or disinformation, and I wouldn’t want to be accused of contributing to it. We don’t need fear mongering. I also wouldn’t want to be seen as being out there for whatever money might be in it.
It’s amazing that this has had such an impact on so many countries around the world. Regardless of how big of a threat COVID-19 truly is, crowd mentality scares me more.
I could say much more, but this is proving to be more transformational than 9/11 was. It’s time to brace for the unexpected. Think the unthinkable. And keep on keepin’ on.
If the infected population doubles every 2 days, it only takes 34 doublings to infect over 8 billion. So, 70 days or so to cover the globe.
As for not feeling real…. nothing you really prepare for, ever really does: your wedding, first pregnancy, major car accident, street mugging, or serious sport injury.
The more prepared you are, the more it just feels like another day at the office.
I just want to say thank you. Your posts mean so much to me. Blessings to you and each of your readers as we face this challenge together.
I’m with you, this doesn’t feel real, yet. I have what we will need to make it through this time. We have medicine for 90 days arriving in the next week or so. We have enough food for 3-4 months, although if the grocery stores are opened and we can do internet ordering and pick up in the parking lot, we will add fresh fruits and veggies to our stock.
The only thing that worries me is that if I don’t work, I don’t get paid. As of now, my job is not working, although I am working on a proposal for my supervisor that might allow me to work from home using the technology I have.
If I don’t work, we can pay some of our older debts, such as $15K of medical bills from last year. If that happens, we might have to file for bankruptcy. Sadly I’m sure others are in the same situation.
It’s not the end and what’s going to bring us down but it is life altering.
It is surreal in that it’s hard to see unlike war or something.
I’m not going to comment much on the politics because politicians do what politicians do. It’s what I do that will make the difference in the end. You can blame everyone in the world but your the one living it that shoulda, coulda, woulda. Your town mayor to President Trump were never ever going to come to your house with toilet paper.
What is odd to me is the ones who talk the talk but when it hits ain’t walking the walk. You should have had food, water, ammo and basics. I even had gloves, masks and tyvex suits because of preparing for deaths, medical etc. now sure I didn’t have enough masks but no one can prepare for everything.
If your here or on other sites daily commenting and didn’t have the basics then why?
Stay calm, be focused and stay the course. Good luck to everyone.
Daisy,
I feel the same way. It can’t be real, but it is. We are prepared. I have been gathering preps for years, have lots of info. too, but I’m still a little nervous.
Two days ago we called everyone we interact with – church, friends, etc. and told them we would be doing “social distancing” for the foreseeable future. Not a person thought we were crazy or over reacting.
We are both “elderly” and have underlying medical concerns.
We’re ready materially (food, water, medicine etc.) but now I’m beginning to feel not so ready mentally We live in a small town and got a report today that the one and only grocery store was pretty much empty and they don’t know when they will get more stock. Add to that, the school has closed and something like 85% of our children rely on the school for their only meal a day (Yes, our town is very, very poor). We have rec’d e-mails that the local churches will try to feed the kids. Unfortunately, we won’t be able to help.
We also have a town full of outside workers living here in travel trailers for a Nation wide project that is coming through our county. Now I’m wondering how all those people are going to handle this crisis.
Our hospital has about a dozen beds. Period.
We are fortunate that we live in the country and so we won’t be cooped up in a tiny apartment. This is what I’ve prepared for for years and years. Now that it is upon us, I really want nothing more than for things to be “normal.”
Where to begin? It does seem surreal, like I’m going to wake up and it’s a bad dream.
I’m autistic, and my hobby for the last 10 or so years has been learning about virology and epidemiology. If I were younger (51) I’d go to medical school to go into the field of infectious diseases. I’ve been following this outbreak since early January.
At the time we were in the process of buying a house, and didn’t have any preps. (We sold our house last year after using up our preps, and had been living in an apartment while we decided where to buy, looking for somewhere to age in place.) I started stocking up anyways, even knowing we’d be moving.
My husband thinks I am overreacting, but since we can use all our preps in the future (store what you eat, eat what you store), he’s okay with it. I’ve spent around $10k to restock. I made my last trip yesterday. We got into our house just in time.
THIS IS GOING TO BE BAD.
I agree with everything you’ve said. But I think it will be worse.
Consider all the collateral deaths: diabetics without insulin, dialysis patients going into renal failure, strokes, car accidents and other trauma, etc.
Consider how many health care workers will get sick. We already have a shortage of nurses and doctors. They’ll eventually stop coming to work because they’ll prioritize their families health over yours. Some of them will breakdown mentslly from the horror and be unable to work. PTSD will be rampant, because let’s face it, we’re essentially at war here.
Consider how many nursing homes will be overrun and the staff quit. Mom or Dad or Grandma or Grandpa will have no one taking care of them.
Consider what a petri dish a prison is. What happens when there aren’t enough guards? Will they start executing prisoners? Will they set them free?
Consider what happens when law enforcement breaks down. Will police officers keep getting paid? They’re not going to keep risking their lives if they’re not.
Consider what will happen when food stamp recipients go to the store and there’s nothing to buy. We were on food stamps ourselves after 2008 when my husband (CFO of a large mental health group) got laid off. Cashiers always remarked on how much food I could get for my money, compared to most (I was buying actual food, not junk, and adding to my new preps–that was when I first started prepping). Most food stamp recipients buy easy to fix food and a lot don’t know how to cook, that’s why they run out of food halfway through the month.
Add in the financial collapse and a worldwide depression. Plus locusts eating everything in Africa. Plus Australia having record crop failures, they normally export, now they’ll have to import food.
What happens when the summer wildfires start up? How about tornado season? Hurricane season? Drought?
What happens when our numbers skyrocket because we’re finally testing?
We have to slow this thing down or we’re Italy. Their healthcare system is collapsing.
Finally, one last thing to consider. Because the elderly will be at much higher risk of death, and most of our politicians are old, we are looking at a fundamental shift in our political landscape. I expect to see socialism/communism take over because the people will be willing to give up their freedom for food. Too many indoctrinated youth (we homeschooled, so thankfully not mine).
Sorry to be a downer. Just my 2 cents.
Oh-oh. I didn’t realize it until you said it. We may lose an entire generation of knowledge skills and experience, to be replaced by people who’s life experience consists of studying books and listening to lectures. Real life isn’t taught in college, and things that look good on paper may not really work. If this crisis takes the elders, the next one may get almost everyone.
You are right. Think of any industrial operation and the top supervisors and top maintenance supervisors are older people, 50+. Lose those people and all such operations shut down. For example: oil refineries, electrical power plants, including nukes. No doubt the pharma industry too. Some plants may have procedure manuals that others can follow, but those are never up to date. Vital knowledge resides only in the older heads. Lose many of those and we are in real trouble. Industry must designate such people and their family’s and take great care for their health, NOW. I wish there were some way to pass this message on to industry.
Exactly. And it has been so sad to see some comments online as to how “only” old or sick people will die from this virus and they are all “useless eaters” anyway. The lack of respect for knowledge and experience given to those who are older in some quarters is sad. And knowing that there are far too many who think that if this virus takes out the old people we will be better off is sobering.
On the bright side, perhaps age, experience and accumulated wisdom will be valued again in the USA. “Used-ta-could.” Respecting one’s elders USED to be part of our culture, before the “boomer” generation. How ironic if the baby boomers born in the late 1940’s through late 1950’s are the beneficiaries of a revival of respect for one’s elders. Ironic because it was the boomers who pushed the ideas of youth worship and “don’t rust anyone over thirty.”
The prepping movement has brought back respect for elders, as part of relearning lost skills which formerly sustained life without electricity or the internet. Let’s have a lot more of that, and a lot less of the mind-controlled zombies who cannot reason themselves out of a paper bag.
Thank you for all of your insights. And I’m glad that you were able to replace much of your storage. I only have one different point of view. We won’t be Italy. I have a friend in Northern Italy and she had been complaining about their health Care system for 3 years. She had a stroke and was not able to obtain the physical therapy that was necessary for her to regain much of the mobility she had lost. My mother had a major stroke 10 years ago and was able to regain much of her mobility and that was due to a paper my cousin found on recovery from stroke but it requires PT and OT.
Remember that Italy’s presidency has been in flux and they were left for months with no one at the helm.
We are similar but we do have strong people in both Congress and Senate and strong people in the CDC as well as amazing people in research facilities. It will get bad. It will get worse. But if people are careful , those people will survive.
Couldn’t have said it any better. It’s exactly my experience. To some posters that keep making this political and referencing swine flu…go back to math class. Thank you Daisy ????
I dunno.
In the Marines, we train as we would fight, fight as we train.
As preppers, I think many of us have been training.
But now we are faced with the fight.
In my house, the kitchen looks a lot like some restaurants: signs, pictures everywhere. Some of the signs are comical: “A meal without wine is called breakfast!” “Dogs Welcomed! People tolerated . . .” “Wicked Chickens make Deviled Eggs” etc.
But we have a few serious ones like this,
“You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have.”
Ladies and gents, this is our fight. This is our moment.
Say a prayer if you so choose.
Make an inappropriate joke, gallows humor if you will.
Take a deep breath and steel your resolve with the mindset that your will prevail.
And let us face the fight head on.
Good luck to us all.
Thanks for another very thoughtful and informative article, Daisy.
So sad to see some commenters still stuck in the us vs. them paradigm of Republican vs. Democrat; Liberal vs. Conservative polarization mind-sent that keep us plebs fighting each other. This is all a s*itshow, theater to keep the masses distracted and from holding the .01% in power accountable for their thievery and other crimes. Their insatiable quest for money and power has no allegiance to party or country. The coronavirus doesn’t care about borders or one’s political orientation, or race, or….
Otherwise, I’m passing on information that may/may not be true but worth considering as getting accurate, timely information is even more difficult these days. There is chatter coming out of some working in Washington, DC that the federal government is “heavily considering” implementing a national quarantine soon. If so, then there might be a 24-72 hour prior notice (which kind of defeats the purpose of a quarantine as people scramble to get last-minute purchases, travel, etc.) followed by a 7-21 day lockdown/quarantine.
Given Daisy’s well-sourced information above re: exponential growth of REPORTED cases (the actual amount is no doubt greater; and not considering that there’ll be more cases reported as the US health care providers finally have reliable tests) I’m figuring that, if true, this announcement will come out mid-to-late next week, with the lockdown/quarantine effective the following Monday 3/23/20. This would be consistent with estimates that the US is about 11.5 days “behind” Italy in the explosive growth in cases and deaths. That would bring us to 3/19 or 3/20 for the exponential hit to the US–which may be just the beginning of our “long emergency”.
Stay safe and healthy all; God bless.
Hi Daisy- I feel just a bit (or more) that this whole scenario is surreal. Is the virus real? Probably. Are we in danger? Not as much from the virus as what might happen post toilet paper apocalypse. Food chain disruptions, lack of necessary items like medication and supplies for those vulnerable populations (Hell, what would the world look like if Pampers weren’t on the shelf?) and a suspicious/self-serving culture would do more harm than this virus.
But even worse than all of this is how will we as a human population respond to the next “crisis” and the next one and so on? When the media controls the emotional levers on all of us, what will we have left to rationalize with or prepare for? They are the purveyors of fear porn and chaos. They create turmoil when they should be creating a consensus of educated plans-the best way possible. Are plans always perfect? Hardly. But we have had nearly 20 years of viral outbreaks and it’s time to get it together-not fall apart. I fear for us- but not from the virus. I fear for our response to each well hyped scene…when this ends, will our memories of the behavior lose their raw images? If so- expect to see this again, and again, and again.
Oh yes, I’m totally with you Daisy. Although I’ve prepped and studied a lot about preparedness, read plenty of fiction “doomer” books, etc. I always figured I’d be using this stuff for your basic ice storm or blizzard. Yet here we are.
I’ve been so frustrated by the refusal of far too many people to take this seriously in the US and do what needed to be done without fear of political impact, hurting the feelings of other countries, harming the stock market or one’s election chances. Now the closings and announcements are gathering steam and the masses are taking note but so much was left for so late in the game.
It does feel sort of surreal. I veer back and forth from feeling that I’ve not done nearly enough to prepare versus it will all be ok and it will soon be under control. Watching the announcements of everything here closing down from ski areas to concert halls I’m realizing the impact this is having. The need to purposely stay apart from others is difficult. I’ve avoided a number of events held this past week as I’ve felt uncomfortable mingling with a group in close quarters. It appears that most are now getting the idea that this isn’t a good idea. This is hard though as the instinct for many of us when faced with a “disaster” or calamity facing our community is to want to get together with others and support each other through it. The prospect of everyone huddling in their own home to wait this out is troubling.
It’s real, it’s not, it’s real, it’s not. I know all about the mental arguments all those in the prepper community are having. I have followed this since mid January and was telling my co-workers about it. I work construction{commercial HVAC} and the job was a rush on a new convention hall that has had it’s first convention canceled. I was laid off mid February and for me lay offs have always worked out well and I suspect this one will also. I started the last runs to Sam’s club and other places right after the lay off with the thoughts of it will be fine, I suspect I was whistling past the grave yard. I have not taken the final steps of bulldozing the driveway shut and rigging the shell hoist in the bunker. I did fuel the dozer and got the hoist out of storage. PLEASE GOD LET US ALL BE WRONG SO OUR FRIENDS CAN LAUGH AT WHAT FOOLS WE HAVE BEEN. And then I remember that sometimes he hears but the answer if at all is no. Luck to all may we all be fools. FOOT
Daisy,
I think I’m feeling the same way and i think I know why. I’ve been prepping for 10 years, ever since my wife and I moved off our boat back on land and Obama had just been elected. I immediately started putting food in storage, and all the other stuff that we might need. And I’ve been doing it steadily for the whole time (still getting small packages of “things” every once in a while. And I feel like I’m ready for this – but it wasn’t what I was expecting. I expected an EMP or social breakdown or even UN troops crossing our border. This is happening in slow motion. No guns, no electrical malfunctions, no blue helmets, just crappy news on the TV every evening and all day. Market goes down, market goes up. Gold, which under these circumstances should be going up, is going down.
And I guess part of it is you can’t fight this. You can’t know who the enemy is, it’s a vapor, an invisible foe that may not be any closer than the next county or it could be in your spouse (like Trudeau).
As long as the internet is up, I’ll be trying to communicate with friends and my students on how to survive this and stay safe and healthy.
I can’t express enough how 100% accurate this is…..you just described me for the last 3 months.
Daisy, I am totally with you and think the same. To me it seam so unreal, since many people I know still go about their business as if this “just was the flu”. For me the hardest part is to see, how many of them are out there who don´t realize, even if our head of state today publicly on the radio recommendet to not use public transport anymore (in Germany where everything was about becoming environmentally friendly in the last month). So I believe this is the reaction to that our politicians think they have lost the fight for containment or following/identifying infection paths. The politicians major concern is to contain the spread enough to not have the health system collapse. So they know what you wrote about Italy. We don´t hear anything about this here (resp. no treatment for the ones having less chances to survive). However, I don´t think for the many dumb*sses this would make a difference for their behaviour.
What really scared me was to see the differences in the curves on the John Hopkins chart. Compare the incline of the China and the Rest of the World curves. The China curve was a lot flatter. This might be because of false reports of numbers but I actually believe this is because we westerners are more individualists or egocentrics in the sense of not wanting to make concession in our lifestyles, going out, meeting friends, going to soccer games, and so on. I believe therefore the reactions of all governments of the western countries were absolutely too late. Tell a CHinese to stay home, they´ll probably say “yes, sir”. Tell one of your non-prepping friends in the US, Germany, Italy, etc., they´ll tell you either your a crazy conspirationist or to mind your own business…
Back to the topic. I think it all feels so unreal, since we still have internet, television, telephone, all utilities…
We haven´t been socializing a lot here (since we are somehow still the “foreighners” and contact to most of out good friends is long distance, so for us, the difference is not very obvious but the one canceller shopping trip a week. We have been in self isolation since beginning of March.
What makes me totally scared though is hearing some scientist now say that the peak might be mid May, and we dont have stock lasting to more than end of May. We also definitely are not totally prepared, since I was new to prepping two months ago.
So I will now try to order online missing little pieces, like water purification tablets, hoof care supply for our rescued horses, and some seeds. Since we will not need it immediately, when the parcel arrive, I´ll just put them in some corner of a shed and let it sit for a month, so the virus on the surface should be dead. If we need it earlier, I have enough desinfectant to spray it down.
If social unrest happens, then we are finished. No guns in Germany if you don´t own the respective license, training, etc. Haven´t been into shooting since it is extremely expensive, and now it is too late. Our house is old and there are 5 plus ways to get in even if you wouldn´t push through the weak front door. I do so hope that it does not get that bad….
Thanks Daisy for making me not feeling alone in my thoughts and cencerns. And for informing us new preppers early enough to get a head start of any John or Jane Doe who now realize that getting some supplies would be wise…
Great site, great people here. Thanks to everybody, too.
There is a Russian say: I would rather be slapped in the face with the truth,than kissed on the lips with a lie. Daisy,I feel that would be a good prepper saying. That all being said,my plans for getting a greenhouse and planting my 1 acre land has kicked into high gear. Blessings to you,your family,and all preppers
I also want to share a link with you all for an upcoming free webinar with professional herbalist Guido Masé.
Maybe we can´t buy what he recommend anymore, but we might be able to forage and make ourselves.
Daisy, you are welcome to share/move/post wherever this info should appear, dont know if here the right place…
Topic: COVID-19: An Herbalist’s Perspective with Guido Masé
When: Monday, Mar 16, 2020 07:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Register in advance for this webinar: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_5EV1XPOySBCj-W-5A0R_Ig
I live in France, work in daycare ( baby and toddler). Yesterday, they told us not to come back monday, unless they call us ( My daycare will open only for nurses and doctors’s children). Today, the government told every one that non essentials store must close, and jobs must do online work if they can…
Every day the past week, i keep saying my co-worker ” it’s bad. We will close every thing, they will ask to work for medical help” ” there will be no thing left in the store”
they smile, tell ” no it’s nothing, only a small flu…”
Thanks for yours advices, Daisy. Now, my husband don’t smile at looking in my pantry. He don’t think anymore that i’m a bit crazy with all the canned food. Yesterday, he buy some last essential things ( okay, chocolate and beer. Comfort food is good, too !).
No matter what happens please know how much you have helped me. How much I appreciate your honesty. How much I look forward to reading your blog. If it is SHTF (AND I BELIEVE IT IS) you have done all you can do to help me and others deal with it. Thank you and I appreciate you very much.
Oh my, lookie, lookie at what the director of the CDC admitted yesterday. Gee, makes me feel great.
ht tps://www.globalresearch.ca/us-cdc-director-admitted-virus-deaths-miscategorized-flu/5706233
You’ve hit the feeling on the head. I’ve felt it before, yes–when tossed off a horse’s back, that eons-long instant that you’re airborne before you hit the ground, thinking, “This isn’t happening…”
As selfish as it sounds, I’m so glad to hear you say this. This is exactly how I feel yet I keep telling myself “you’re just a silly old lady with too much time on her hands & you’re letting your imagination run rampant”. I am somewhat prepared but with a limited fixed income there’s only so much I can do. And I’m so sick of people blaming the Democrats or the Republicans! Wake up, people – they’re all in bed together. We’re being played & there’s not much we can do. I’m more concerned with the economic crash than the virus & now the cherry on top would be an attack, probably emp, right in the middle of all this. I’ve been a history student my entire life & I guarantee you the folks who suffered the Depression didn’t believe it was real either until they were boiling up tumbleweeds to feed their kids.
Yes, it does feel bad– because we really do not know the truth of it.
It feels, to me, that it will get much worse.
The economic impact will be real bad, before it is over.
The Covid-19 will bankrupt many more than it kills.
Thank you for all you do to help people be informed and get more prepared. It does seem surreal. A trip to the local Super Walmart yesterday to “get a few more things” was a smack of reality.
I believe the worst is yet to come. May God help us. So many people are still unaware and unprepared.
Thank you! God bless you!
I know exactly how you feel- we’ve prepared for this, but it is hard to watch it happen. But, because we’re prepared, we’re not scared to death, but really hoping it won’t be as bad as our guts tell us it could be.
I have checked in with some of my family around the nation. New Mexico shut down school for the entire state for the next 3 weeks. One of those is actually spring break. Supplies are low. My dad went shopping last night in Washington. He said that was a BAD mistake. People were crazy and there were no shopping carts left. I was at an office yesterday. My friend’s husband called saying there was no TP to be had anywhere. The news has pictures of the local Costco store signs reading they were out of bleach and TP. Is this real. I don’t know. I do believe the actual numbers are not even known let alone reported. How many people actually go to the doctor when they get sick. I don’t unless my home remedies can’t beat it. How many are walking around doing their business while carrying the virus and not showing symptoms. My dad reminded me today that this is FEAR. My pastor says FEAR stands for False Expectations Appearing Real. What is real. We don’t know unless we experience it, as the Alphabet channels enjoy reporting the worst, the horrid, the pain. Rarely do they report positives. I am fine with what I have. I have been making sure the fuel in the truck is full. As for the rest let it come. I started this “prepping” for Y2K. My knowledge has grown. I kinda live that lifestyle anyway. Do I want people dead or sick, NO, not even close but this may wake up the snowflakes and nonbelievers. Daisy keep up the great work, I am reading you daily.
Feel the same way,however Friday ‘s press conference was just the right and the markets reacted positively. Thought the graph was on a 3rd grade level though.Buying more ammo next week for sure.
People are really showing their true selves.I got mine…F…you.Don’t know where this is going,but I’m hoping cooler heads prevail.
Stay Healthy,
Sean
Daisy, I can’t imagine why anyone would unsubscribe at a time like this. In addition to a knowledge base of helpful information, you have created a community here. I believe we will probably all have a variety of feelings about this issue and they will come and go day by day.
My worst worry is watching my grandchildren’s normalcy go away. One of them got upset at the prospect that her school MIGHT close for a while. Now it has officially closed.
Another reader touched on how most westerners are not used to being told what to do and would not submit like a person living in a communist country. We don’t know anything different from the usual freedoms we have. I think that is part of why western governments are going so slowly at implementing the lockdown (taking gradual steps). However, the slowness is going to make the spread of the virus so much worse and that is very frustrating.
Thank you for all you do and to the rest of the community here as well.
this link was in Dr. Gary North’s ‘tip of the week’ this morning.
https://www.garynorth.com/public/20645.cfm
i forwarded it to almost everyone in my email address book with this message.
hello one & all,
i’m sending this because i’m selfish..
and know if there is even a chance that covid-19 might affect you..
and i could have sent some information you could use..
and was a coward because you may think i’m nuts..
but if you did get sick..
i’d feel horrid for a longlonglong time..
and i know none of us want that!
hope they really read it.
thanks for the info- good article on Gary North’s site and i just signed up for the John Hopkins newsletter.
Olivia,
Thank you for sharing. The info in the link was excellent.
My husband and I were talking today (OK, I was talking and he just nodded every so often…) about how surreal this situation was to me. “Surreal” was the exact word I used. He’s an engineer – didnt have a clue about what I was feeling, but again, he nodded. He tries to be supportive of my prepper ramblings. But the difference for me from what the rest of the writers here have described is that it doesn’t seem to be happening in my community.
I mean really – no one seems the least bit concerned. Even my doctor whom I’ve gone to for over 40 years and who most certainly knows Im a prepper, played the party line card and assured me that we should be more concerned about the Flu. Seriously????
My DH and I are both 69 with medical issues like heart disease (him) and asthma (me). And we already got our flu shot, so what exactly was he thinking? DH has an appt on Monday so we’ll go down That Road again.
To me, here in small town Virginia, it’s like The Phoney War in Britain, that period at the beginning of WW2 from September 1939 to April 1940 when, after the blitzkrieg attack on Poland in September 1939, seemingly nothing happened. And then came The Blitz and the Battle of Britain. And we all know how that turned out.
I know what’s coming. Years ago I read John Barry’s comprehensive tome about the Spanish Flu epidemic in 1918 (The Great Influenza, available from Amazon for about $14) but aside from schools being closed for Spring Break, no one else seems concerned, much less panicked. Stores aren’t overrun, there seems to be some shortages in OTC meds, particularly aspirin (and the prices are thru the roof! Imagine 300 ibuprofen for $28.), but you can still get TP and Clorox and plenty of food. All kinds of food and even some routine medical supplies.
I was in the Safeway wrangling 3 carts of canned goods and staples, and got the usual wry comments – “you must have a big family hahaha” or “throwing a party?” For a while I just smiled and chuckled but finally I started answering them, saying that I was stocking up for the Coronavirus. (and they should be too).
Eight out of 10 just LAUGHED. One out of 10 looked a bit worried, and the last one of 10 actually asked me if I was serious. “Do you really think we will run out of food?”
(And this was a store manager who was bagging my groceries because of A.Shortage.Of.Workers.) “Well,” I replied, we might or might not have food but what happens when all the truck drivers get sick, or the trains stop running, or the medical system collapses, or there are no clerks left in the stores to stock shelves? Then what?”
I didn’t stick around much longer to see what she did but I bet that was the first time it occurred to her that her life was about to go sideways.
Hopefully, you opened some eyes in that grocery store. Even the ones that laughed will go home and look up the situation on the internet or at least “think” for a while.
This was a good laugh for me because I often get the same reaction from my husband:
(OK, I was talking and he just nodded every so often…)
To think people were in denial as late as March 14th.
I think you have captured the thoughts and feelings of many who have seen a possible crisis and prepared accordingly, hoping that they were wrong. Normalcy bias is strong in the psyche of humans.
However conflicted we preppers may be, we have always erred on the side of resilience. That is the trait that will pull us through any crisis.
Thank you for your honesty.
You are a bright light in the darkness
Daisy,
Thank you for your daily updates and encouraging words.
I would like to share one particular experience we went through during early December of 2007 on the coast of the Pacific Northwest.
We frequently get strong winter storms and this was no exception. We’re used to stocking up and hunkering down, but this particular storm turned out to be a two day typhoon off of the Pacific Ocean and no one could have predicted the severity of it all…needless to say it shut down everything for a week, even splitting up communities within our county! No one outside of our area even knew what had happened and we were on our own as individual communities! It definitely brought us all closer together to help each other and work to make things right again.
The strangest thing for us during this disaster was the normalcy of our own household (7 people at the time) in the midst of it all! Preparing has always been a way of life for us, in our own families growing up and as a married couple for 43.5 yrs now. Each time we go through a disaster we learn from it and increase our supplies and way of doing things. Because of this, we were amazed that we could have fun playing uno and other games, reading and continuing on our own homeschooling schedule, while there was chaos outside our door!
My point is if you’re prepared for any kind of disaster, you’ll be able to ride out the “storm” as if there was none!
About this newest “storm”, I’d like to share some great words of wisdom (shared from our Pastor) from Martin Luther who lived through the Bubonic Plaque 500 yrs ago in 1527.
“I shall ask God mercifully to protect us. Then I shall fumigate, help purify air, administer medicine, and take it. I shall avoid places and persons where my presence is not needed in order not to become contaminated and thus perchance infect and pollute others, and so cause their death as a result of my negligence. If God should wish to take me, he will surely find me and I have done what he has expected of me and so I am not responsible for either my own death or the death of others. If my neighbor needs me, however, I shall not avoid place or person, but will go freely…This is such a God-fearing faith because it is neither brash nor foolhardy and does not tempt God.”
May the Good Lord help and keep us all!! Thanks, M ????
Loved that quote!
Very surreal.
Daisy, with all due repect …
Do you realize or care now much unnecessary economic hurt your continuous fear-porn mongering is contributing now and will be in the future to the common person?
Already, events and festivals are being cancelled two or so months in advance due to irrational fear. This is wiping out the projected income of the people who make these events. Income that would have gone to paying off mortages.
The sad part is it didn’t have to be this way.
There is the virus and then there is the perceived fear of the virus. As of now, the facts and numbers of the virus don’t support the fear.
(To check out the numbers one Youtube channel to check out is “Florida Marquis”.)
Hopefully, your writings and your symbiotic relationship with Selco will not reflect on Selco due to guilt by association, or collateral damage.
Again, the pathetic thing is because of exponential fear mongering, instead of a balanced observe and note approach, …
it does not have to be the way you want it to be.
best
John
Do you have any reason to believe that we are somehow “special” and will not be Italy in another week or two? Just wondering. Italy is a first world country with an excellent medical system and is being devastated by this virus. Daisy isn’t fear-mongering. She’s trying her best to get the facts out and urge people to be prepared as best as possible. Haven’t yet seen her post that we should be building bunkers and buying 100,000 rounds of ammo nor that the zombies are coming.
You can choose to not believe this virus is a problem if that’s your deal but then why on earth are you spending time on this website? Go take advantage of a cheap flight somewhere and have a nice time.
So, it’s all about money?
How about you go volunteer at one of the hospitals (sans PPE). I’m sure they could use your help.
I am sure here are many more international readers than me. From Germany, from France, etc..
For my part, I am very glad to have grown up with many languages and that I am able to follow this blog which has been extremely helpful for me over the last weeks.
Regarding the fear mongering: I am very happy to have found this site, which supports the writings with links to the sources. So everybody can check, if they feel the sources are credible. I did check because I am not a blind believer of what one person, or even worse, the TV news or interviews are telling (and often contradicting each other). At least here in Germany they are not telling us all they know. Nobody ever mentioned that MDs in Italy already have to decide, whom they will treat (first or at all) and often leave the elderly to die because they have less chances of survival. The government and related institutions like public TV and radio stations know that the whole system could be in danger. And yes, I believe it is better for all of us, if the system will stay in working order.
But I am thankful I got the chance to know what is really happening. So I can take even more care for my parents and hope that their friends in their 70s and 80s, who slowly start to understand (50-50 of them to be honest) take better care of themselves.
It always depends what each individual person does with the knowledge they have. And I don´t think that long time preppers – or even new “preppers” like myself – will go nuts about things because they know they are better prepared. From what I have seen here, preppers are more interested in what is going on, better informed, and just not closing their eyes, as other do to not have to give up their routines and chic lifestyles.
For my part I prefer to be well informed than left in the dark or kept dumb by believeing the singy-songy “everything is going to be ok” of some of the media (although now, that is over at least in Germany, where public transport is cut back to less than half and some states are starting to forbid gatherings of more than 50 people…).
Keep up the great work, Daisy, and I feel it is very honest of you to vice your fears or surreal feelings. It makes the ones of us who are feeling the same see, that we are not alone. That we are not weak and that it is ok to have and voice feelings.
Great post! Yes as preppers we should always plan for worst case scenario. It may be the SHTF moment or it may be our version of Katrina. Time will tell.
Thank you for all of your help Daisy. Thanks to you and all of the resources you have recommended my family and I are in a much better position than we would otherwise have been. I am lucky to live in an area that is not affected by Coronavirus yet, but we can see it coming. I was able to go out today, fill the gaps and buy a few treats for the coming weeks. We didn’t have to fight over toilet paper. My husband now no longer regards my prepping as an outlet for my anxiety but as a genuine strength. Cheers and good health to you and your family! This too shall pass.
Oh its a real living thing right now. Stores here are empty of many many items. I dropped by Wal-Mart to get a gallon of milk. 2nd time in two days and there was none.
We have dr appointments Monday. Aiming for that being a last day out for a while. I have powdered milks and flavored drink mixes that my husband enjoyed. Prepping has been around his Alzheimer’s needs. I’m done but i guess it feels a little unreal.
Hope most are prepared and everyone stay safe.
You’re not alone by a long shot! Ebola was scary from a distance, but this is now in our backyard. The county next door has a single case. I’ve been prepared for a few weeks, honestly waiting until the panic fully sets in before buying some perishable foods. Freezer is stocked, pantry is deep, garden is started. But I’m just crushed at being right.
Daisy,
like so many others here, it is weird. our governor described it as ‘a slow moving storm we can see coming’…and it finally showed up Wednesday with our first case. And in just a short time, all schools cancelled, all municipal places closed… i was out at Target getting something for freezer organization & saw so many people surprised there was no toilet paper, Purell, etc. it just made me shake my head –
I’ve been putting things up, so feel mostly prepared, but again, like many others have said, i think it’s going to be much worse. Here in Alaska, we are pretty vulnerable in that our food is generally shipped up via barge – and it’s not like we have been able to start crops in the ground.
I felt the ‘community’ from most people, sharing the same sentiments. Thank you for all you do.
So very thankful for your post, I feel like you wrote it for me. Lol It feels like walking through a dream to me even though, like you, I’ve been prepping for a long time. Thank you again, God bless and keep you. Know that your work has helped many.
I needed to read something like this, honestly. I appreciate your honesty. I’ve been in this exact same mindset for the last three weeks in particular. I’ve been following this thing since right around when it hit double digit cases, and before anyone had died from it. I knew there was something weird about the way people were reacting to it. We went from, “No one is concerned, why should we be?” to “Oh please, not you too. Everyone is already panicking about this and it’s being blown out of proportion.” very quickly. It didn’t get real for me until it hit the U.S stock markets, though. We had thought we were financially invincible for several years now.
I wonder what things will be looking like by the end of the month. Stay frosty out there.
-Daniel
You and so many others are overreacting. The fear has people fightened of their own shadow. Deaths are far less than what comes from the flu and the AP publishes this story the other day:
Most coronavirus patients recover, still anxiety, fear loom
Associated Press
Mar 12, 2020
https://www.smdailyjournal.com/coronavirus/most-coronavirus-patients-recover-still-anxiety-fear-loom/article_c31e2e1e-649a-11ea-b67f-e785bd460c92.html
People are hoarding toilet paper and Lysol wipes? Schools and libraries are closing. Sports events are canceled.. Traffic is much reduced as people hide int heir houses afraid to venture out into the street.
You would think that zombies were on the loose! What would happen if we had a REAL pandemic, like Ebola or the black plaque got loose? Sheese.
Jojo,
Did you even read the article you posted?
“After many days and a number of tests, doctors eventually told her that the infection had spread to both of her lungs.
“After that, I felt a heavy head while walking, unable to breathe, and nauseous,” Tan said in a video blog post. But after over two weeks in the hospital, a CT scan showed her infection was disappearing and she was discharged.”
Two weeks in a hospital, problems breathing.
For her, that was two weeks of uncertainty and fear.
From what I gather, she was not someone of advanced years either.
Dunno about you, but I would not want to go through something like that if I can help it.
Have a nice day.
Cleaned out the fridge. That felt right. I think it helped my feeling of helplessness. It seems like that ol’ military joke, “Hurry up and wait.” in a sense, prepping has been like being ready for warfare. You wait for your foe to make the first move unless the higher ups decide to make a preemptive strike. Then its all on. So like soldiers, we prepared ourselves for the harsh realities of war and then we waited. Is it just a drill, war games or is it the real deal? Unfortunately, like warfare the realities may be deadly.
So, with those kinds of thoughts, there’s a soberness and a watchfulness. Other than that I can’t seem to even focus on normal projects.
Thank you!! It’s like I wrote this myself. ♥️
It’s exactly what I’ve been feeling. God bless you.
Yes, this feels unreal, like a fiction novel. Scenarios are changing hourly. We’ve have viruses in the past, and the healthy can fight them off. What is different this time is the stores being empty of just about everything. How long will it take to restock? Are there full warehouses waiting for a truck to move the items to our local store? Or is that warehouse waiting for items to arrive from China? The first day of spring is this week, but the climate still looks like winter in many areas, frustrating farmers anxious to plant their crops. Will we see food shortages?
I wonder if China has declared war on us. Not with guns and planes, but economically. They are not happy with Trump stopping their theft of our intellectual property and having to pay their fair share of tariffs.
We do not have full information on this, evidenced by how often we hear contradicting “facts.” How did the Wuhan virus land in a Washington nursing home? I’m tired of hearing the word “unprecedented” to describe all of the shutdowns, but it truly is.
Thankfully the observant could see the need to stock supplies early.
What everyone is experiencing is a psychological state called Adjustment Reaction: How long it takes to adapt around a new threat or unforeseen crisis. Some naturally go through it quicker than others. Adapting can be a learned- that’s why fireman practice going into burning buildings. They manage the fear through training. If someone has lots of experience adapting to crises already, they can stay calm and think on their feet.
Everyone has the “Oh Shirt” (good place) moments. The question is how long do you stay there? Too long and you’re road kill.
Phases
1) You pause
2) You become hyper-vigilant
3) You personalize the risk
4) You take precautions
Go to this link and all will be explained. http://www.psandman.com/col/teachable.htm
Nice article, Daisy. I guess those acquaintances I discussed prepping with long ago who said, “I’ll worry about it when it happens” should now be worried, wouldn’t you say? I have discovered that those sorts of people who laughed and scoffed at those of us who were concerned about possible life disruptions as we are seeing today and who worked to prepare for those things are now very accusatory and even bitter over the fact we did and they didn’t. We are called “hoarders” and “selfish”, and that we “hogged” more than our share. Its not as if we did all our preps since CORVID19 arrived. It was incrementally over years as we often sacrificed other pursuits.
I don’t believe anything ‘whole cloth’ that we are being told about this virus. I am of the opinion that if we prepare for the worst and hope for the best we aren’t ever wrong. I agree with you that, in my opinion, President Trump does not look well. That usual twinkle in his eye is gone. It concerns me.
I have not yet noticed any inability to ‘get my head around’ the fact that this could be that SHTF we always planned for. Frankly, I have been in ‘Condition Yellow’ for a long time so bumping up to Red I don’t think will be an issue. Great point on how the rules will change if they haven’t already. Having the ability to quickly adapt is key.
I think we still have a chance. It is the 5G factor. Closing the borders is one thing. The other is the microwave radiation exposure of the public. Given the working theory that Covid-19 was designed to mimic the symptoms of 5G radiation exposure and released to cover up illness and death from the Chinese 5G, you can see from the rate of increases in the population, the difference between the countries who have Chinese 5G (mm waves), 4G/5G (long waves) and those who are radio-protective (Japan).
Watch what they do here, the US has already issued licenses for the mm waves but they mostly only using the desified base stations for the long wave. Even the long wave involve some very harmful radiation exposures that harms immunity and promotes the virus. If they start using the mm waves you will see Covid-19 explode and know we have been betrayed by our own government.
If they reign in the 5G program and become more radio-protective, we CAN slow this thing down and minimize the damage. It starts in your home and must be done person to person because the technocrats and telecom goons will not admit what they have done to us. Yes. You would not believe what they have gotten people to do to themselves with the Smart meter, Wi-Fry Everywhere and your microwave oven. Effects are cumulative. See my suggestions at Reject5G(dot)info
IT’S (not) THE FLU!
I want to suggest a counter to the narrative that COVID19 is less destructive than influenza. That argument is based on the comparatively high numbers of flu infections versus COVID19. While it’s true that the flu kills hundreds of thousands worldwide each year, this happens under conditions of normal life activity. COVID19 has affected a much smaller number of people than the flu, but this has happened under the condition of massive quarantines, travel bans, and increased attention to hygiene and social distancing. People should consider that without the drastic measures the world has taken to limit the spread of COVID19, the numbers of infected people would have increased dramatically.
People who focus on the comparative data between the two viruses tend to accept that COVID19 is far more infectious and deadly than influenza. A recent analysis of data from China illustrates this:
The rapid spread of coronavirus around the world could have been substantially curtailed if the broad swath of measures China brought in to control the outbreak were introduced just weeks earlier, researchers say.
Sophisticated modelling of the outbreak suggests that China had 114,325 cases by the end of February 2020, a figure that would have been 67 times higher without interventions such as early detection, isolation of the infected, and travel restrictions.
But if the interventions could have been brought in a week earlier, 66% fewer people would have been infected, the analysis found. The same measures brought in three weeks earlier could have reduced cases by 95%.
source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/11/research-finds-huge-impact-of-interventions-on-spread-of-covid-19
don’t forget, your guts have shit for brains
Here in Singapore where I live things are basically still normal — and I really hope they remain so until the virus goes away. More than 90% of Singapore’s food is imported. Once the supply chains are too severely affected in this respect, Singapore’s probably finished. No amount of prepping short of migrating elsewhere will help.
There’s something I’d like to share here with everyone, by the way. From what I read, HYDROGEN PEROXIDE can seriously help fortify our bodies against a wide variety of infectious diseases. For all we know, this chemical could therefore prove an excellent weapon against the coronavirus. Check out this free ebook.
https://educate-yourself.org/cn/The-Truth-about-Food-Grade-Hydrogen-Peroxide-2009-James-Paul-Roguski.pdf
You folks may seriously want to stock up on supplies of hydrogen peroxide. You could be doing yourselves and your loved ones a great favor.
Of course it’s a major operation by our Overlords. That doesn’t mean it won’t kill a massive number of people and destroy whatever wealth and civil liberties we had still possessed. Whether a hoax with crises actors, like Sandy Hook or the Boston Marathon, or a real killer ops like 9/11, the aftermath will be devastating. I am still trying to figure out if it is a hoax or a weaponized virus. Either one coincides temporally with the breakdown of the global financial system as indicated by the Fed last September when they took over REPOs. Starting at $30 billion, it is now in the trillions. The central banks, starting with the Rothschild Bank of England and in conjunction with the multinational banks which control them, have initiated boom and bust cycles for centuries. All preppers knew the inevitability of the super bubble collapsing into the Greatest Depression which is leading us into the Orwellian dystopia.
As to whether a hoax or real, the terrorized public will manifest their behavior as if it is real and accept, and even welcome, the draconian martial law now being imposed globally including mandatory vaccination of completely novel vaccines. The virus has become “the lone gunman” as opposed to the bankers who orchestrated this, relieving them of responsibility to 95% of the sheeple. This will lead to the inevitable reset of the global financial system by the Overlords which has run its lifespan with its overwhelming debt, but bad as the current corrupt system is, we can be certain that the coming NWO system will be worse.
As to the question of hoax or dangerous bioweapon, these are some of the factors I am pondering being a chemist by academic background.
* As far as my research goes, I can find no incident of a corona virus precipitating anything more serious than 15% of the common colds in humans prior SARS in 2002. Weighs heavily toward bioweapon as against a natural mutation.
* I have been studying the CDC protocols for the development of the PCR TEST. It has enough holes in it to drive a truck through. Among them are that the virus was never isolated prior to the TEST. So the question arises how can you test for a suspect who has not been properly identified? The CDC answers that it relied on Chinese data and also with the advent of SARS and MERS, they have learned enough about corona viruses that they have very complex computer programs that can hypothesize its structure. Doesn’t fill me with confidence. GIGO. Since there are hundreds and perhaps thousands of distinctly structured CV’s, how do we know that there aren’t harmless cv’s in many of our bodies which will trigger a positive? All humans have scores of harmless sorts of viruses in their bodies at any moment, the vast majority of them never characterized. Next, since this purported yet to be isolated virus has a RNA genotype with a protein shell, the test has to use an enzyme, reverse transcriptase, to convert the RNA to DNA before the TEST can be conducted, because the PCR reagents only work for DNA. Hope this translation enzyme works better than Google Translate going from Mandarin to English.
Then we have the unprecedentedly long incubation period between infection and symptoms appearing. The cv which causes 15% of common colds makes it appearance in well under a week. This makes it incredibly difficult to test whether the TEST is an accurate predictor of both contagiousness and incipient illness. As far as I can find, the TEST has never been tested scientifically for its predictive value.
Finally we have the realization that the CDC and WHO are criminal organization and nothing they release should be trusted intrinsically.
* Weighing in in favor of a deliberately released bioweapon, we have reports from around the world, particularly Iran and Italy, of massive amounts of serious and often fatal respiratory illnesses. But OTOH, the media is controlled in the USA through 5 mega corporations working in conjunction with the CIA’s Project Mockingbird.
So it’s still up in the air (for me) though I am still leaning toward a hoax. What difference does it make? If it is indeed a hoax, then we can focus primarily on prepping further against the economic collapse into the Greatest Depression and the massive social unrest, and not put in a huge amount of effort toward avoiding contagion. Time will tell (for the critical thinkers. Most American still believe the official story of both the JFK murder and 9/11).
I have been looking into it as well it does seem to look more and more of bio weapon and also the talk of overpopulation recently more I’m just saying the research papers IV read look as if it is just that and they knew before letting us know etc.. idk but things are yet to get bad it’s the beginning of a long hard new life and I’m scared my prediction is correct
The main reason we seen to be heading for a SHTF scenario isn’t the virus. It’s the PANIC the mainstream media is sowing about the virus. This isn’t Captain Tripps, people. This is a virus that MAY kill a few more folks than the ordinary flu, but has been so over-hyped people are panicking. Economies are slowing and slumping due to overblown fears and that could end up killing more people than the virus itself. Democrats, especially, in our country are fanning the flames in hopes of winning this year’s elections.
This has less to do with a public health crisis and much more to do with a political agenda, fueled by the Democrats lap dogs the mainstream media. For God’s sake most people who get this bug don’t even get sick enough to seek medical attention and thus their “cases” aren’t reported and aren’t included in the database.
I’ve never seen America cowering in fear before with public events being cancelled “out of an overabundance of caution.”
Should we all prepare for bad times? Sure, this is simply exercising common sense, but live your lives. I’m 70 years old and Type II diabetic, which means I’m one of the ones MOST likely to die if I get this virus, but I will NOT live in fear. I will continue to live my life on my own terms and I think it most wise if you do likewise.
What I will do is wash my hands more often than I normally do.
the enemy is you
So, yes, as is so perfectly, perfectly apt, the post-Christian West is committing suicide over… a deep chest cold. It was pointed out to me that Corona is NOT a type of influenza. It is what we have all called, up until now, “a cold”. That’s right. COVID-19 is a type of cold. For some, especially the over-80 and already co-morbid, it can develop into a nasty deep chest cold which can then progress into pneumonia. Just like all other colds. And, exactly like other colds, many people get it and never have any symptoms – their immune system controls it. And like all other colds, it is contagious. So, yes, as is so perfectly, perfectly apt, the post-Christian West is committing suicide over… a deep chest cold. (facebook is playing hide n seek with this article)
Over 20,000 people have died in the United States so far this calendar year (since January 1) from H1N1 type influenza. Including 136 children. But… that doesn’t matter. That’s… DIFFERENT. Riiiiiight. Youbetcha. In the ARSH 2016-2017 flu season in Italy, 25,000 people died of influenza, which was above average, but not unheard-of. But… that was different.
Viruses are contagious and “go around”. It is now being said that people are “asymptomatic carriers” for a MONTH BEFORE showing any symptoms of this type of cold. Therefore, if you leave the house you are literally Hitler killing old people. Um, do we see the irrationality of this?
Do we see how this insanity leads to no one being able to leave their home EVER EVER AGAIN because there is no way to know if you are a walking vector of death to the elderly? Even if testing were available, between the time you take the test and the time the results come back, you could have picked up this cold virus. Are we seeing what is going on here?
https://www.barnhardt.biz/2020/03/14/have-you-noticed-how-if-you-point-out-any-objective-facts-or-irrational-arguments-that-you-are-now-a-murderer-of-old-people/
Well, I can see several reasons why it wouldn’t exactly feel real:
1. “Crisis fatigue” from having predicted 18 out of the last 2 crises: “What, I finally got one right? Man, that hasn’t happened since… like… 2008!”
2. This crisis not being precisely what one predicted: “I told you there was going to be another financial crisis! Well, yeah, I did say it was going to be because of ORANGE MAN BAD, rather than a virus, but… but… Uh, Trump’s screwing up the response! So there!”
3. Real life disasters never quite seem to play out the way they do in fiction: American Life Turns Into Bad Jerry Bruckheimer Movie
4. Building on #3, nobody knows how this “movie” is going to end. Fiction requires a logically satisfying ending and often has a moral point. Real life epidemics, like rain, afflict the righteous along with the unrighteous; and they tend to come to a rather vague ending. (See: the Spanish flu of 1918.)
5. This crisis actually discredits a lot of the conspiracy theorists who predicted it by demonstrating that governments and imaginary secret cabals and DA J000S aren’t really in control of much of anything.
6. Things aren’t really playing out politically the way anyone imagined either. That politicians are still trying to score points off each other suggests to us they aren’t really taking this crisis very seriously; which has many questioning their motives for wanting us to take it seriously.
7. The whole “hurry up and wait” aspect of it. Our experiences so far are more like what we’ve seen happen during a massive blizzard than a weeks-to-months-long crisis: everybody gets time off from school and from work. It’ll be a while yet before a majority begins to feel the bite from the disruption in the supply chains.
“The S*** Is Actually Hitting the Fan But Somehow It Doesn’t Feel Real”
@Daisy,
I mean no disrespect with my comment. Could it be you are actually suffering from normalcy bias and perhaps not wanting to see this for what it is? It’s the real deal and we need to pull it together while we still have time.
Thanks for all that you have done for the prepper community over the years.
Daisy- – great thoughts and I especially appreciate the way you expressed them. I am feeling the same way- having second thoughts, wondering if I’ve done enough, wondering what I can share (or trade if it comes to that) with others who are in need, wondering about how long this will last. It’s time to take a deep breath and thank you for reminding us of Selco’s advice. Be on the lookout for the new rules and adapt quickly. That’s gold there!
I have observed the majority of people have the normalcy bias and anger(denial) about this event. My nephew when I asked a month ago if him and his wife& kids were prepared for this . He answered yes. Good I thought. Then a week ago he tells me they actually ran out of TP for example. So I ask do you have enough food to feed your family for 3-6 months? He admits they basically live week to week. I recommended buying 100 pounds of potatoes and canning or dehydrating them. He says how about I just buy a couple boxes of instant potatoes? I want to scream at him , dumb ass your kids will go hungry with your mindset. People are so used to the system working. When its interrupted its no wonder they panic.
I feel every bit of this. God speed to you and yours.
The only times in my life when i stepped into a pile of sh* t?
Is when i DISREGARDED my instincts and my gut…
The problem? Is that many of us tend to rationalize AROUND our gut instincts.
Many of us here are long time and experienced preppers, and we are STILL guilty of this!
We get an insight, right?
Then, we start over-analyzing the crap out of that insight…
And eventually either talk ourselves out of HEEDING it, or we just go “Nah!” and disregard it entirely.
We’ve ALL been guilty of this at one time or another.
When you get a flash of insight or your gut tells you something, resolve NOT to pick it to pieces and simply HEED it! Why?
Because part of the beauty of prepping? Is that even if you overcompensated and bought too much prep material, it will NEVER go to waste as long as you rotate it out!
If you’ve been through any situations where you’ve needed to accumulate resources for like say, Hurricanes? Your instincts become pretty honed in doing it for many years.
Now… As it pertains to our CURRENT situation, did ANY of my compadres here get any flashes of insight at the very BEGINNING of this mess? I did…
Hit me right in the gut.
As soon as i read that the city of Wuhan, population of 14 million souls, was on the verge of locking down that city, BUT 5 MILLION OF THOSE RESIDENTS SLIPPED OUT BEFORE THE QUARANTINE WAS INITIATED, it hit me… Square in the gut…. “This is going to go GLOBAL!”
Because many of the “escapees?” Were of the more well- heeled variety, and it hit me….
Those folks are gonna jump on international flights to escape the wrath of their OWN govt during the crisis, and distribute this sh*t to every corner of the globel!
I didn’t question it… I ACTED on it. I quietly, at least at first, started buying up stuff to replenish old stock and to replace things i used but didn’t get around to replacing. I was trying to minimize the red flags on the banking statements so the wife wouldn’t blow a gasket. Bankers… Love these people, but as a general rule? They have NO sense of humor when it comes to money…. Lol
As the weeks went on, i continued light buying practices while simultaniously monitoring the progression of this virus. The news got worse every day.
What really shocked me? It that NO ONE ELSE AROUND ME was seeing this yet! No red flags were pipping in anyone else’s heads! How can THAT be…
I had a gig down in Ft Lauderdale the middle of February, and i was already getting nervous about being so far from home with this crisis looming. The first cases were starting to pop in europe, and the trajectory was disturbing.
We got home, and i went into prep overdrive! The gut told me we were on the verge of a resource war… Just like 2 days before an incoming hurricane when all the naysayers finally figured out they were gonna get their @sses kicked, and descended on the resource points like locusts, complete with the fights and violence that come with it. I could feel it… Anyway, i went bat sh*t! 150 gallons of stored fuel, litter, dry and wet food for 6 months for both dogs and cats, and every prep item recommended over the years from multiple stores, and oh… How the bills rolled in! Of course, the wife, who monitors our accounts, began freaking. First thought was account compromise. Nope… Just me detonating our balances.
Finally told her… “Look. You’ve trusted me for 23 years of marriage, thru numerous hurricane preps, ( 3 of em ultimately direct hits) i’ve kept you safe, kept you supplied, and kept our family prepared and ready. You’ve always trusted me on this, i’m asking you to trust me now…. This sh*t is going to detonate into a resource war like no other, and a LOT of unaware people are gonna come up short when this gets real. Trust me on this…”
Well, she relented and let me be. I continued my furied pace of buying….
And then, last Wednesday night… The dam finally broke.
President Trump made an address about the seriousness of the covid-19 virus, the suspension of european flights and visitors and other related factors.
The next morning, metro Atlanta went Ape-sh*t! There was a run on EVERY resource imaginable. The crowds, the fights over bottled water, the angry shoppers looming at empty shelves…
And i breathed a sigh of personal relief. We had gotten in under the wire. We’re topped off with everything we need for 6 months to a year for 6 people.
Bank account is beat to sh*t, but i’d do it again in a heartbeat. Because ultimately, what are we REALLY prepping? Products? Consumables? Necessities?
To me? We’re buying peace of mind…
Best to all out there,
Johnny
Hi Daisy and All, I am in NZ (the country which is a bug out location) and I live on a small farm with livestock and fruit and nut trees. Relatively remote location, far from any city. I have lived in the USA and am quite familiar with your circumstances. We have only 9 cases of Cov19 in NZ and no local spread.. we are at least1 month behind USA.
The reason I went back to the land is because of a channeled “prophesy” we got 50 years ago which predicted a time of tribulation.. which would be followed by a new age ( golden age relatively speaking). We had a series of communications and got more advice on self sufficiency etc.
After 10 years I complained to the “source” that I had built an Ark and it hadn’t rained. He understood.. “You sit in your Ark dry”. He said “Do not stray from from the path, for the form and making of the events may not develop as you think. There will be a drought on your land, much suffering of sheep and cattle, and at that time you will be unable to deny that the troubles have come.”
So for the next 30 years I reacted to every dry spell, but there was really no drought. BUT.. right now there is a drought..not severe here, but very bad in other parts of NZ. AND.. I really did not foresee the virus pandemic. It has developed so fast. The source also said that there would be plague as in times past.. a cutting down of people. ( I had not really listened to that). Minor detail.. now I am old and grey hair..grey beard.. just like Noah.
So the point.. is this really the SHTF?? Things are happening as never before, and so I put out the warning. This may be a lot worse than you /we expect or hope. I do not wish to spread fear.. I have nothing to gain or sell. Just a heads up from prophesy that only I have. Take it or leave it.
Partnership of Big Government with Big Corporate is called Corporatism, a fancy name for Fascism.
I guess I’ve now come to terms with the fact that this is the event we’ve been preparing for but I don’t think it will be TEOTWAWKI. I think things will be rough for a while but get basically back to normal. I imagine one of the reasons it’s been hard to really believe this is really it is because it’s been kind of a gradual decline. I made a final trip to Sam’s club today for a few food things we eat a lot and found myself in a huge line waiting for the doors to open. The supervisor came down the line announcing that we wouldn’t find TP, rice, beans, ground beef, hand sanitizer or most cereal. Luckily, none of those things were on my list because, being the preparedness minded person I am, I had already bought that stuff weeks ago (if I didn’t already have it). I found everything on my list and was out in 15 minutes. Well, actually, I have still be on the look out for hand sanitizer and vitamin C because what I’m learning from this experience is that I’m ending up sharing my resources with my less prepared family, particularly as I am more concerned about the effects of the virus on their health than my own. Hopefully we will all get through the other side of this ok and they will do a better job of having their own needs covered in the future. I’m sure glad I bought those couple bottles of hand sanitizer a few weeks ago. Just wish I’d have realized I was buying for 5 and not 2.
Thank you Miss Daisey…I also am a prepper and I am in a pretty good location…But the people around me seem to be going kinda crazy…I can see and smell their fear…But you know as well as I this is going to be one rough road…
Daisy, I have to be honest and say some of your blog posts have felt a little bit like you were playing on people’s fears. However I think every word of this blog post is accurate and true. Thank you for putting it in perspective for us who are prepared but still don’t feel like it. Unfortunately things will get much worse before they get better even if they’re able to lower the rate of new infections quickly. It’s a new world and a new economy from this point going forward, for a while anyway. This was an eye-opening blog post for many, I’m sure. I appreciate your candidness. It’s nice to know there are lots of other like-minded folks like me out there.
The Dow plummets to the level it was at when the President was elected ( you notice Obama doesn’t claim credit for the economy anymore). Key argument for the President. Public gatherings of more than 10 people are being banned (no more rallies) and the economic impact will be most acute with the small businesses (which makes up the majority of the economic progress over the last 3 yrs). China was losing big time to the Presidents trade war. The Wuhan virus (aka:Corona) originates in China. All this in the election year. Now I’m not saying there is a connection, but isn’t it interesting that the Democrats now have the “perfect storm” they have been pursuing over the last 3 yrs to destroy the President (and the country). I think it’s called a “twofer”. Of course, it is all coincidental. No intent here at all.
I think your comments are right on. I don’t know why anyone would unsubscribe due to your observations that are honest and forthright. I don’t think it’s shtf , it’s a good practice for shtf. But yes, Trump knew about coronavirus in November. He chose to do nothing hoping it would blow over. He fired the pandemic team and that’s why the people who are left have little experience, and the response is slow. I read a horrible account on Twitter yesterday of a man who contracted the virus and his experiences with not being able to get tested and finally collapsing in front of the ER. Luckily he survived. MN MN
Yes, we are somewhat prepared. I’ve been bugging my husband to get more ammo and explaining why I have stockpiled plywood and other wood to cover our windows in case of shtf which he thought was not going to happen? Or like so many people this can’t happen here? Well my kids are the same except for one. They were. So I can help tell them what to do, what to buy, and everyone has had some success at diferring times. One daughter-in-law works for Kroger. Another works for another company, and they have given us tips.
All we can do now is be careful. The enemy is not something you can shoot, it is something you need to be paranoid about. Social distancing is good and watch your back. I am going to suggest armed guards or off duty cops for the senior hours at the grocery stores. And we certainly regret not getting our CC licenses…..
But remember there will be more supply trucks and more testing kits. Be safe.
I am here in NYC in Unfashionable Brooklyn. (Hipster Brooklyn is the northwest corner nearest to Manhattan.) I do have some N95 masks, bought them over a year ago to do renovation/construction work on my apartment. I put one on yesterday to go shopping at the neighborhood store 2 blocks from home for fresh food. (I am fine for shelf-stable food and household supplies.) It was busy, but no line to get inside, and no rationing, and people were being polite. It was really scary to see empty shelves. As Americans we are not used to that. People weren’t angry or upset but were acting subdued and had concerned looks on their faces. Their behavior reminded me of 9/11 to be honest. The Brits talk about the Blitz spirit, this was the 9/11 spirit. Worried but being polite to each other and particularly helpful to the elderly. The frozen, canned, bagged and boxed food was wiped out, as was all paper goods, flour and baking supplies. But plenty of fresh fruit and veg, and plenty of dairy, and lots of meat, strangely enough.
I was the only one in the store with a face mask and I felt horrible, like such an elitist, like I was flaunting a diamond necklace. People just looked silently at me but said nothing. I felt awful for the grocery store employees forced to deal with the public every day and having no face masks. I do feel like I am living in a movie. It does seem unreal. It reminds me very much of 9/11.
I know the foreign media is focusing on the lines, rationing, empty shelves and arguments/fights in Costco, Walmart, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, and other major chain stores. I feel bad for rural people who have no options and no place to shop but the WalMart or Costco. However, in the outer boroughs of NYC there are many small, local and hyper-local stores and markets where at this time there is food to be had with no line to get in, rationing or fights breaking out.
I have a relative in Southern California who says that she had to get in line very early in the day and then stand in line for over an hour, to get inside a grocery store. The store was only letting in a few people at a time. Once inside, she saw that there was not much food to buy. It is so unreal that this is happening in America.
It’s even worse when you are married to a sheep. My husband and I are polar opposites when it comes to preparedness. His normalcy bias is glaring. He doesn’t even want to think about it. He would much rather watch reruns of Survivor and laugh at me ~ even though our whole world has turned upside down. Our entire family will suffer the consequences of him sticking his head in the sand. I’m so frustrated!
I’m so sorry, Kate – that has to be incredibly stressful. 🙁