Has anyone increased the supplies they have on hand in case of a Coronavirus outbreak?
On the advice of a GP friend I bought a decent supply of;

handy towels
disinfectant
napisan
tissues
panadol
sweet drink syrup - for anyone sick who doesn't want food
hand sanitiser
pet food and an increase in pantry dry goods.

I have been thinking about preparation as well. I already have a box with essentials and I am well stocked in case of a major earthquake down here like the Alpine Fault erupting, but this would be a bit different in that electricity and water supply would be working. Naturally I would be reluctant to go out but in the end it can’t be totally avoided. I will buy extra dog food but I don’t know what else to do. I really hope that the Government will stay firm on restricted travel from China to protect us from this virus and not give in to pressure groups. Unfortunately, our economy will suffer anyway so we might as well try and stay safe. I would love to see what others are intending to do. By the way, I have noticed a huge reduction of Asian tourists here in Wanaka. This must be hurting some businesses.

I'm still pretty much of the opinion that this is a storm in a teacup, the death rate isn't extreme in countries other than China, as better access to health care results in better outcomes. For most people this is just a severe respiratory flu (the main cause of deaths from any flu is respiratory infection, this is no different), and there are probably many more asymptomatic infections in the community that are not included in the numbers (because they are asymptomatic and so not attending for medical assistance).

I am well prepared for pretty much anything though, including IV fluids and the ability to give them, I have this precaution in place as my son won't eat or drink anything whenever there is something going on in his mouth/nose/throat, and in the event of a pandemic I want to be able to keep him hydrated at home if he is unwell rather than relying on an overloaded health system. All the things you mention are a good idea in any disaster though, so good idea to stock up.
I do fear for the businesses that this is affecting.

If I'm wrong (it happened once, ), then we'll be self isolating (I'll still have to work though) and will rely on online shopping for supplies... this system can be used without having any contact with anyone else so should be safe.

Griz I hope you are right.
Disappointingly I have had to postpone my Mexico trip as 3 travellers felt uneasy about travelling with this on the horizon.
Also, for any travel booked post January 31st there is no travel insurance available through Cover more or Southern Cross for anything Coronavirus related. That is a bit disconcerting.
I do thing that Mexico is not likely to be a high impact country - its hot, humid and sunny, apparently all the things this virus doesn't particularly like.
But guess we will just have to wait and see what happens.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/26/2020 07:13AM by helen.

I'm with you, Griz. I understand the unknown is alarming to public health officials, but it does seem that the media could be doing a little better with keeping things in perspective.

We live in the north with less chance of earthquakes and such, but still keep 3 large plastic totes of emergency supplies and 100L of stored water (we have concrete water tanks that could conceivably crack in an earthquake). In the event of a pandemic, we live in a rural area so could self isolate quite easily. Also because we live a bit out of town, I have a very well stocked pantry, large vegetable garden and 30 chickens so we could probably go for a decent amount of time food wise. My emergency box has a box of N95 masks in it too, so won't have to hunt for them if needed.

My disinfectant of choice is bleach, and I always have a couple of large bottles around. My one nod to pandemic preparedness was buying a large bottle of disinfectant concentrate. I don't usually have it around, and thought it may be handy.

In general I'm one of those people who, as much as possible, does not want to have to rely on anyone else. I also live in fear of ending up in a bad situation and knowing I could have prevented myself from being there if only I'd done what I knew I needed to do.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/26/2020 08:52AM by Jenna.

I'm with Griz, that said I would think twice about travelling internationally right now.

I'm not laying in much in the way of supplies, although I'm making sure we have plenty of olive oil and coffee.

We were booked to fly to London via Singapore in April, and with our non-refundable flights, prepaid accommodation and other costs we stand to lose nearly $20,000, but we intend to cancel. Singapore is not as risky as some other countries, and we have no worries about ourselves catching anything, but we still don't think it's worth it, particularly as our trip was specifically to visit a dear friend who is very ill with stage 4 cancer and whose immunity is very low. And the possibility of being hauled into quarantine at any point in the journey is unappealing. I have little hope of claiming anything through travel insurance as it specifically excludes claims which are brought about about by pandemic or epidemic, and we seem to be on the verge of a pandemic declaration by WHO..

The situation certainly makes one think clearly about priorities, and money is ranking at the bottom at present.

I have just added plenty of loo paper to my list.

Oh that is so disappointing Tpandav.
A Dr friend of mine is currently at the travel agent booking flights to Greece with Emirates for early May.
She is travelling with her 83 year old mother.
They don't feel that the risk factor is significant enough to deter them from travelling,
I feel confused between the "storm in a teacup" thought and a potential "global pandemic".

A friend from Germany cancelled her February visit to NZ three weeks ago as they were going to have stop overs in Singapore and Hongkong. Her husband does not keep the best of health so they decided to postpone till next year. Her doctor told her that passengers take painkillers to potentially reduce temperatures. Who would have thought.

The point is to have a strong immune system and trying to make it even stronger. Better to take vitamin pills if it's necessary. The other stuff like wearing a mask or washing hands seems odd to me. They say it's an air-borne disease so what's the point of washing hands if it's already in the air? The other day I was going to Germany in order to buy property in Germany] and while waiting for my flight I realized that almost everyone at the airport was wearing masks. Just doesn't make sense to me.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 02/28/2020 09:46PM by Lorna.

dwight85 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The point is to have a strong immune system and
> trying to make it even stronger. Better to take
> vitamin pills if it's necessary. The other stuff
> like wearing a mask or washing hands seems odd to
> me. They say it's an air-borne disease so what's
> the point of washing hands if it's already in the
> air? The other day I was going to Germany and
> while waiting for my flight I realized that almost
> everyone at the airport was wearing masks. Just
> doesn't make sense to me.
>
> Edited to remove a link to an irrelevant website.

Hand washing is in my view essential because people often sneeze and cough into their hands.

I bought extras of stuff like flour, olive oil and other pantry staples last week. I didn't see any point in waiting until the virus arrived as it was clearly going to and given that panic buying has already started I'm glad I didn't wait. I also did an extra shop for lots of veges to turn into soup for the freezer. We already have good supplies of things like toilet paper. I didn't get the health stuff as we work from home and can easily self-isolate so hope not to get it. I'm taking it seriously as I have an autoimmune thyroid condition which makes a more serious case more likely. When the swine flu came around I got it while travelling and I was pretty sick so I want to be careful this time.

@TPANDAV: don't cancel your flights, just change the dates and keep changing them until you get to a point when the tickets expire. Most international flights allow free date changes and the tickets are usually valid for a year. Find out if this is the case for your tickets and what the terms and conditions are.

Even if you have to pay a fee for changing dates, it might still be worth it to change them to a date 9 months down the track them change them again if you find you can travel earlier.

Yes, I'm stocking up. For the past few months I've been whittling down my food stocks because I'm in a position where I can shop frequently and find that buying things as needed suits me better and saves me money. My flat is also very small so storing a lot of food is difficult.

In the past 2 week I've bought extra stocks of:
pet food
coffee
dried pulses
grains
dried vegetables
Milk powder
Pain relief
Hand sanitiser
Toilet paper
Disinfectant
Toothpaste
Personal care products (sanitary products, deodorant, soap, shampoo etc)
Tissues
Instant mash
Bottled lemon juice
Garlic powder and granules
Onion powder
Meal replacement drink powder
Yoghurt mix sachets
Peanut butter
Flour

For anything else I've just made sure I've got full stocks of everything all the time instead of waiting until I'm almost out. I'm keeping my little freezer full. I'm making sure I have a full tank of petrol all the time instead of filling up when I've got a quarter of a tank left. I'm also going to make sure I maintain adequate supplies of my prescription meds. I've also made sure my elderly parents do the same.

I'm going to dehydrate some fruit and vegetables this weekend. I'll also plant some new tomato, spinach, silverbeet and lettuce seeds to maintain my current crop.

I might sound like a bit of a catastrophist but I know that the Italians were caught short by their quarantine, and we've been talking about it a lot at work. I'd rather be prepared, especially because we've had the good fortune to be forewarned by other countries' experiences and the first case of Covid-19 has just been reported here.

DK Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> @TPANDAV: don't cancel your flights, just change
> the dates and keep changing them until you get to
> a point when the tickets expire. Most
> international flights allow free date changes and
> the tickets are usually valid for a year. Find out
> if this is the case for your tickets and what the
> terms and conditions are.
>
> Even if you have to pay a fee for changing dates,
> it might still be worth it to change them to a
> date 9 months down the track them change them
> again if you find you can travel earlier.

Yes, that's what we will do if the airline doesn't cancel and refund us. It will cost us quite a lot in fees, but better than losing the cost of the whole booking. I must say I'm hoping to be cancelled as that might give us some chance of a travel insurance claim for our other pre-paid costs. I suspect though that the insurer will take refuge in their pandemic exclusion clause.

Travel is looking pretty unattractive lately.

Thank you DK for your shopping list as I didn't think of quite a few things on it.

I did a fairly large shop last night. I bought only items that we eat and use regularly, just some extra. I went shopping around 7 pm, there were few people in the supermarket and the shelves were well stocked. Need to buy more sugar though because it’s jam making time and the quinces are colouring nicely. Going to be busy.

yes Chris you are right to just double up or so on what we eat usually.I am a bit confused here.Are we just stocking up so if the virus comes to our town we don't go near the supermarkets or does it mean that the price of food is going to go up eventually because the stock is hard to get?

Probably a bit of both, marylew. Who knows how it will pan out. Kathryn Rich from the Retailers (?) Association apparently said on the RNZ website this morning that we should not buy more than three or four months worth of food etc. I guess it’s difficult predicting what will happen. I certainly don’t have four months worth of loo paper. I will keep whatever I have bought in reserve and now carry on buying as usual.

3 or 4 MONTHS? The govt is only suggesting a couple of weeks, bought over a few weeks, not all this week.

Siouxsie Wiles has some good advice on The Spinoff.

[thespinoff.co.nz]

[thespinoff.co.nz]

I also thought that our extra stocks should be for 2 to 3 weeks.
A relative in Auckland said he had just come back from one of the malls and some had trolleys piles high with food and other items that have been suggested. I wondered if it is fear or greed.
Chris, I had better get some extra loo paper in, too.

Jenna Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> 3 or 4 MONTHS? The govt is only suggesting a
> couple of weeks, bought over a few weeks, not all
> this week.

Perhaps I misread. The item might still be on the RNZ website.will check later.

I have also been buying extras for the past two weeks, after following developments overseas and what has happened in stores there as Covid 19 cases are announced. My list is similar to DK's but I've also added:
- blocks of cheese and mozzarella
- large bags of spuds
- oranges
- coconut milk
- prescription renewals for family meds
- plastic disposable gloves
- soap
- vitamin c tablets
- processed ginger and garlic
- checked all gas bottles are full
- extra fuel
- dog flea treatment (he's due in a month)
- water tank filters and UV light (due to replace in a month)
- getting my septic tank serviced and emptied tomorrow (it was due at the end of last year and don't want that failing!!!)
- wine and some coke for my rum

In addition I've bought extra seedlings and planted them out today. I expect there will be shortages of lots of things in the months to come and would prefer not to rely on other sources. We are lucky we live in the country so have chooks, vege garden, sheep etc. If we have to self isolate I plan to do it with flavour and minimum disruption to meals. Tomorrow I'll be adding a few treats and hiding them away so they don't get eaten by the family. Hopefully we'll look back in a few months and laugh about when I needed to wear a tinfoil hat and prepared like a mad woman - but I'd rather be prudent. Plus I expect we could have at least one set of our parents here with us so I'm buying extra to help others who didn't plan ahead.