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#Post#: 131--------------------------------------------------
Lanard, Sandman, Mackay: Past Time to Tell Public: It will proba
bly go pandemic, prepare now
By: mixin Date: February 23, 2020, 6:24 am
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This is a long article, with a lot of useful info on how to
handle a pandemic. I've posted just a small part of what they
had to say.
There are links to the preparedness plan they put forth during
the H5N1 scare, which are still applicable.
HTML https://virologydownunder.com/past-time-to-tell-the-public-it-will-probably-go-pandemic-and-we-should-all-prepare-now/
We want – and need – to hear advice like this:
* Try to get a few extra months’ worth of prescription meds, if
possible.
* Think through now how we will take care of sick family members
while trying not to get infected.
* Cross-train key staff at work so one person’s absence won’t
derail our organization’s ability to function.
* Practice touching our faces less. So how about a face-counter
app like the step-counters so many of us use?
* Replace handshakes with elbow-bumps (the “Ebola handshake”).
* Start building harm-reduction habits like pushing elevator
buttons with a knuckle instead of a fingertip.
There is so much for people to do, and to practice doing in
advance.
What’s working for us
We’d like to share with you some of our recent everyday life
experiences in talking about pandemic preparedness with people
who perceive us as a bit knowledgeable about what may be on the
horizon. Some of this overlaps with the more generic comments
above.
1. We’ve found it useful to tell friends and family to try
to get ahead on their medical prescriptions if they can, in case
of very predictable supply chain disruptions, and so they won’t
have to go out to the pharmacy at a time when there may be long
lines of sick people. This helps them in a practical sense, but
it also makes them visualize – often for the first time – how a
pandemic may impact them in their everyday lives, even if they
don’t actually catch COVID-19. It simultaneously gives them a
small “Oh my God” moment (an emotional rehearsal about the
future) – and something to do about it right away to help them
get through the adjustment reaction.
2. We also recommend that people might want to slowly (so
no one will accuse them of panic-buying) start to stock up on
enough non-perishable food to last their households through
several weeks of social distancing at home during an intense
wave of transmission in their community. This too seems to get
through emotionally, as well as being useful logistically.
3. Three other recommendations that we feel have gone over
well with our friends and acquaintances:
a. Suggesting practical organizational things they and
their organizations can do to get ready, such as cross-training
to mitigate absenteeism.
b. Suggesting that people make plans for childcare when
they are sick, or when their child is sick.
4. And the example we like the best, because it gives every
single person an immediate action that they can take over and
over: Right now, today, start practicing not touching your face
when you are out and about! You probably won’t be able to do it
perfectly, but you can greatly reduce the frequency of potential
self-inoculation. You can even institute a buddy system, where
friends and colleagues are asked to remind each other when
someone scratches her eyelid or rubs his nose. As we noted
earlier, someone should develop a face-touching app – instead of
a step-counting app to encourage you to walk more, how about an
app to encourage you to auto-inoculate less! And track your
progress, and compete with your friends, even!
The last message on our list – to practice and try to form a new
habit – has several immediate and longer-term benefits.
Having something genuinely useful to do can bind anxiety or
reduce apathy. You feel less helpless and less passive. And you
can see yourself improving.
The bottom line
Every single official we know is having multiple “Oh my God”
moments, as new COVID-19 developments occur and new findings
emerge. OMG – there is a fair amount of transmission by
infected people with mild or subclinical cases! OMG – there is
a high viral load early on in nasal and pharyngeal samples! OMG
– the Diamond Princess, how can that have been allowed to
happen! And on and on.
Officials help each other through those moments. They go home
and tell their families and friends, sharing the OMG sensation.
And then what do they tell the public? That they understand
that “people are concerned” (as if they themselves weren’t
alarmed), but “the risk is low and there’s nothing you need to
do now.”
#Post#: 133--------------------------------------------------
Re: Lanard, Sandman, Mackay: Past Time to Tell Public: It will p
robably go pandemic, prepare now
By: gsgs Date: February 24, 2020, 3:41 pm
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IMO we should still try to contain it.
It worked in China.
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now I see that WHO says it too :
HTML https://www.thestandard.com.hk/section-news/section/11/216631/WHO-advises-lockdown-
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