The Key to Coronavirus PreparednessWashing hands with soap

Everyone has heard the news about coronavirus, but many people don’t know what steps to take to protect themselves and their families.

Most of my clients know that I love camping. The hobby combines several of my interests, like the art of minimalism, prepping, and trading stocks. The current coronavirus outbreak caught my attention because, for the first time, I genuinely pondered what someone would need to do to be reasonably prepared for a viral outbreak? 

It seems like this only happens in the movies, but preparedness for an emergency like an outbreak can pay dividends in other ways. For example, four years ago, I attended a fascinating lecture on “How To Survive A Zombie Outbreak In South Florida.” Yes, zombies don’t exist, but it was enlightening in terms of hurricane preparedness, which is a real threat to anyone who lives in Florida. 

Here is something scary that most Floridians don’t think about: There are only five roads out of the state. If there were a pandemic here, it would be easy to quarantine the South Florida peninsula. So, if evacuation isn’t possible, preparedness is the only option left. 

I’m going to use the current coronavirus scare to explain the three levels of preparedness: Micro, Meso, and Macro. I learned these tools and philosophies from a great youtube channel.

Micro is the One Key Thing You Can Do Immediately to Have the Biggest Impact

After reading countless articles and mowing through clickbait, the answer to what I needed to do was obvious. We are our own worst enemy, and washing our hands is the simplest thing under everyone’s control to prevent the transmission of this disease or the common cold.

I know, it is so obvious you almost feel duped in reading the article. But think about it, how many times did you wash your hands today? When was the last time you cleaned your cell phone screen, keyboard, or desk at work? What other surfaces do you touch regularly? 

Yesterday, I made a new rule in the house: We will wash out hands the moment we return home from the outside world of work, school, and shopping. This alone is the most critical thing you can do, but making it a habit is much harder than it appears. Knowing what to do is only the first step, doing it another thing entirely. 

Washing your hands is just like buying a few water containers for Hurricane Season. I am amazed at how many people in South Florida will wait in line to buy bottled water. We do not have a water shortage, but people have a storage problem. They do not think there is any way to store water besides bottles. 

It is so easy to meet the basic requirement of a gallon per person per day for 3-5 days. It only means spending $6 on two boxes of Ziploc gallon-size storage bags or a new Home Depot bucket and lid for every person and pet in the household. 

Washing your hands to stop coronavirus is the same thing as having a water plan for a hurricane. It’s basic, but can make all the difference in terms of survival.

Meso Preparedness is Fortifying Your Home to Have Non-Perishable Supplies at the Ready

You may have been seeing a lot more people wearing masks out and about nowadays, but that will likely stop soon. Why? It’s because you cannot buy an N95 respirator mask anywhere online because the factory in China that makes them is shut down due to coronavirus quarantine.

Personally, I have a box of them ready to go. Why? Dust masks are on the standard home preparedness checklist for hurricane planning. After a big storm, mold, and dust become a huge problem. However, it is not practical to wear a mask every day. The masks work better for sick people containing the spread of the disease. 

On June 1st, every year, I refresh all my household supplies for hurricane season. Now with the coronavirus concerns, I made sure I was ready by March 1st! If the virus does spread quickly around Miami, do you have two weeks of food and supplies to stay in your home and quarantine yourself? Here is a link to my video and blog post on how to stock up on two weeks’ worth of food in one trip to Costco. 

Macro Preparedness is Long-Term, Off-Grid Living 

Here is where I acknowledge the limits of my preparedness. 

My home is too small to grow food, and I would not be able to live off fruit trees or fish from my lake (let alone catch enough for my family). Yes, I enjoy camping and learning outdoor skills, but I know my limits. I won’t be the last man alive, surviving off alligator and sawgrass in the Everglades!

However, I enjoy studying people who go to extremes. Preppers’ ultimate goal is to survive in a full grid-down collapse of society. There are rules to follow, but knowing and applying the rules at the Micro and Meso levels should be enough to cover 99% of what you and I can reasonably expect life to throw at us. 

My goal is for you to sit down with your partner and have a conversation to start working on a plan. In Florida, a hurricane preparedness plan is actually more important than a coronavirus plan, but there are many similarities between the two. Once again, the rule of preparedness is that you will not be able to buy when you know you need it. You have to have it ready now when times are good so that you are prepared if things turn bad unexpectedly. 

Coronavirus is just another chance to see if you can identify a healthier way to live and successfully build new and healthy habits for yourself and your family. Yes, it is much easier to buy a mask than get your family to wash their hands constantly. But keep in mind that those who can change will always be more successful in life than those who cannot. 

For right now, see if you can create a healthy handwashing habit for your household. Being able to create or change habits is truly one of the most valuable life and survival skills you can master!

At times when it looks like the sky might be falling, a tremendous amount of strain can be put on a relationship. If you want to work on your communication skills to prepare for a potential hurricane (or even a coronavirus outbreak), contact me today. It would be a privilege to help you get to a place where you can work together for the good of your entire family!