The Ultimate Pandemic Survival Guide – Top tips, best practices, and more!
After the sudden emergence of the coronavirus, more of the population is suddenly taking pandemic survival seriously. But COVID-19 isn’t the only virus that has pandemic potential and could be far tamer in comparison to others. So, if you’re wondering, how to keep yourself and your loved ones safe from another world pandemic, this is the guide for you.
Here, you’ll learn more about current pandemic threats, along with tips and tricks on how to protect your health, plus a pandemic survival list of gear you should consider stocking up on.
Don’t put this off before it’s too late—keep reading for the ultimate pandemic survival guide that’ll help you take action today to help you tomorrow.
World Pandemics – The Basics
Fortunately for the current population, the coronavirus pandemic was our first and only experience. However, pandemics have been prevalent throughout history, even with global advancements in medicine.
By definition, ‘pandemic’ can be used as an adjective or a noun. The terminology either refers to ‘an outbreak of a pandemic disease’ or can be used as a descriptor, ‘(of a disease) prevalent over a whole country or the world’.
Pandemics are often caused by –
● A new type of virus or strain, that can be easily transmissible between humans.
● Bacteria that are resistant to antibiotic treatments
● A developing new disease that has the capability of spreading rapidly (similar to the bubonic plague, or the ‘Black Death’).
All in all, pandemics are the result of humans having very little (or no) immunity against a new virus, strain, bacteria, or disease. What makes a pandemic even worse, is if that virus or disease begins to mutate, which rapidly speeds up the spread.
The key difference between a pandemic and an epidemic is that a pandemic affects multiple countries or continents, while an epidemic is categorized by smaller, localized regions that are affected by an illness.
For instance, the World Health Organization (WHO) is responsible for declaring COVID-19 as a pandemic once the group realized the illness was spreading quickly and quite severely. But the coronavirus isn’t the only recent virus to cause a pandemic, and it won’t be the last.
So next, let’s take a look at pandemics of the past and see what experts are predicting for the future.
Pandemic Health Statistics – The Past & Future
To put the most recent pandemic into perspective, thus far, the coronavirus death rate, according to John Hopkins, is 5.9%. Other viruses to raise pandemic concerns, like SARS, had a death rate of 10%, while MERS has a death rate of about 35%.
● SARS – The SARS virus was first detected in Asia in February 2003. Quickly, over the following months, it spread to over 20 different countries in North America, South America, Asia, and Europe. In the end, SARS reached a total of 8,098 cases with 774 deaths.
● COVID-19 – The COVID-19 or coronavirus pandemic, also originated in Asia or Wuhan, China more specifically. As many of us know, the infectious disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus was declared a pandemic in March of 2020 after an outbreak began earlier that year. As of July 2022, there have been 550,725,753 cases worldwide, with over 6.4 million deaths.
● MERS – In 2012, the MERS aka Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (a type of coronavirus), the pandemic began after spreading to 27 different countries with 884 deaths reported. The areas affected include the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia.
These viruses all share a few things in common. For one, their origins are not fully understood, and they’re also transmissible from human-to-human contact. That makes figuring out how to survive a pandemic even more complicated.
Not only will you not know what’s coming next, but you won’t know how to avoid it without cutting off human interaction 100%.
To help, it’s best to know or understand the viruses with the most pandemic potential. That way, you can be aware and informed in case another pandemic does occur.
The Types of Viruses with Pandemic Potential
Now, it seems anyone and everyone is on high alert for health scares and potential world pandemics. Here are the most prevalent viruses on the horizon, that experts say could be the next to cause a global pandemic.
Monkeypox
Monkeypox is a viral disease that is currently noted by the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) as an ‘outbreak’ in the US. That means cases have been reported in several countries yet haven’t reached the quantity it takes to be considered a pandemic.
So far, scientists are aware that monkeypox is transmissible through human contact, and early data suggests that a high number of cases are gay and bisexual men. To be cautious and preventative, be aware that monkeypox can spread through –
● Contact with the infectious rash, scabs, or body fluids.
● Respiratory droplets like those transferred through fce-to-face contact, or during intimate physical contact.
● Touching items that have been touched by body fluids or the infectious rash previously.
● Pregnant women can spread the virus to their fetus through the placenta.
For awareness’ sake, it’s important to know and understand monkeypox symptoms since they’re the most recent world pandemic threat. Those include symptoms similar to smallpox, however much milder, and rarely fatal, including –
● Fever
● Muscle or backaches
● Headache
● Chills or exhaustion
● Swollen lymph nodes
● A pimple or blister-like rash that appears inside the mouth, on the face, or in other parts of the body.
When infected, the illness can last anywhere from two to four weeks, which makes prevention that much more important.
Flu
Every year, the flu seems to plague certain parts of the population without reaching pandemic-type numbers. But that doesn’t mean it can’t, as shown by the influenza pandemic in 1918 when 50 million people died in just one year. The isolated incident is now commonly referred to as the ‘The Spanish Flu’ but not because that’s where the virus originated.
It was coined ‘Spanish’ due to the fact that Spain was one of the first countries to announce its cases.
It’s most important to know that the flu can affect certain populations more severely than others, much like COVID-19. Those over the age of 65, those with chronic medical conditions, pregnant women, and children under the age of five, for example, are especially vulnerable to influenza.
On the bright side, the seasonal or common flu is the illness we know the best, which can be prevented with a flu shot vaccine annually. In addition, most individuals have built some type of immunity against different variants over the years.
However, avian or bird influenza viruses also have pandemic potential, which brings us to our next virus with pandemic potential – H5N1.
H5N1
In April 2022, a case of H5N1, or bird avian flu, was reported in Colorado, which means there could be pandemic potential in the near future. In fact, the CDC has been closely monitoring cases in 34 states and monitoring the health of 2,400 patient exposures since 2021.
The first international case was reported in the United Kingdom in December 2021 in a person who did not have any symptoms and who raised birds that became infected with the H5N1 virus. Since 2003, there have been more than 880 human infections, but over time, the H5N1 virus has mutated into different variants than those seen previously.
At its core, H5N1 is a pathogenic flu that’s fatal to fowl and is transmitted from birds to humans.
So far, no immunity in humans has been found and there’s no developed vaccine for prevention. To help, here are a few specific tips to avoid contact or exposure to H5N1 –
● Avoid contact with wild birds. Wild birds can be infected with H5N1 and not show any symptoms of illness.
● Avoid contact with domestic birds (poultry) that have died, or look sickly.
● Avoid touching surfaces that have been in contact with wild or domestic birds’ feces, mucous, or saliva.
Similar to COVID-19, H5N1 has very specific protocols if infected or exposed to the virus. Including –
● People who become sick within 10 days of their exposure to infected birds should isolate themselves at home, from their household members and should not go into public until they are proven not to have bird flu virus infection, and have recovered completely. If infected, your local or state public health department will assist and monitor individual isolations.
● Close contacts (family members, etc.) of exposed people should monitor their health and symptoms within 10 days of exposure, reporting any unusual symptoms (especially respiratory symptoms) to their health care provider.
COVID-19
We all know COVID-19 is still lurking as new cases continue to be reported in 2022. Experts differ on whether or not COVID-19 will continue to increase or wain off to an epidemic level. However, what we do know so far is that the virus is highly capable of mutating, which could cause the emergence of new variants, like Delta and Omicron, which wreaked havoc previously.
To avoid or be prepared for the next wave of coronavirus, or these other viruses and illnesses, next up we have tips, tricks, and gear for you to consider and implement.
Pandemic Health – How to Protect Yours
During a pandemic, or to avoid the possibility of a pandemic, it’s important to take protective measures when it comes to your health. Here are a few simple tips and tricks you can begin practicing daily, to ensure you stay healthy and help prevent global pandemics from spreading through unhealthy habits.
1. For pandemic health and health year-round, it’s key to wash your hands thoroughly and often with water and soap. Or, using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer is sufficient too. It’s recommended to wash your hands for at least 15-30 seconds to remove germs sufficiently.
2. Avoid touching your nose, mouth, and eyes without washing your hands first.
3. Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue, or use your sleeve, when you have to cough or sneeze. If you use your hands to catch your cough or sneeze, wash your hands immediately after and be sure to discard the tissue, too.
4. During a pandemic or outbreak, it’s best to avoid crowded places and stay at home if at all possible.
5. Be sure to clean and disinfect household surfaces daily.
6. If you’re sick – stay home and don’t add to the unnecessary spread of illnesses.
How to Survive a Pandemic – Best Practices
Let’s be honest – nobody was prepared for the 2020 onslaught of COVID-19 precautions and restrictions. But for future health threats, you can learn how to survive a pandemic beforehand to be sure you’re ready next time. So, without further ado, here’s a pandemic survival list of best practices to know and take action on, now.
1. Make a plan to work from home – If you don’t already work remotely, it’s time to explore if you can when you have to. Ask your employer, if they offer work-from-home opportunities in case of future pandemics or if they’d be willing to develop one in the event that one occurs. If not, explore other ways to make an income from home, or begin developing skills you can put to good use for money, barter, or trade, if necessary.
2. Make an emergency contact list – In a pandemic, or global disaster, you may lose access to your cloud-based or technology-based contact lists. And, who can remember phone numbers anymore? In the case that a world pandemic occurs, or a threat takes out internet-based databases, be sure to have a backup to make contact with loved ones and important agencies.
3. Seek out aid organizations – Whether local or national, in the event you need support, health services, or information, you’ll need to know the closest or available organizations who will be on standby to help. This may include local health departments, hospitals, or organizations like the Red Cross. Peruse these sites ahead of time, and sign up for any emergency alert or notification system you can, to stay in the know.
4. Make an education backup plan – In the event that schools become closed, and stores or resources are unreachable… how will you continue to educate your children? Stock up on educational books or resources now, to ensure there’s no gap in learning or development in the case of a global pandemic, again.
5. Protect your health – Your individual safeguard against pandemic health threats is protecting your own and building up your immune system ahead of time. Eating a healthy diet, exercising, sleeping well, and managing levels of stress are simple ways to maintain your health and avoid conditions that could make your susceptibility to viruses worse.
6. Begin storing supplies – In the case of a pandemic health crisis, you can never be too prepared. Especially since we’ve all seen how a world pandemic can affect the supply chain of supplies for everyday essentials and necessities. Stocking up on pandemic survival gear (check out our list below!) and basics like food, water, and toiletries will help you survive and live more comfortably through a pandemic.
Of course, be mindful of the fact that you should be preparing for your basic survival needs and shouldn’t require a two-year supply or affect the supply of goods that others need to buy too (hence, the toilet paper debacle of COVID-19).
Being prepared with these basics will help you feel more at ease if a natural disaster is to occur, or if a pandemic has the potential to disrupt our daily lives for an undetermined amount of time.
Global Disaster and Survival Tips
In addition to knowing how to survive a pandemic, it’s also important to know the survival basics for potential global disasters, like natural environmental events, nuclear threats, war, etc. While both are similar in preparation and response, here are two tips to know that’ll help you survive either.
1. Be prepared – Begin ASAP on building stockpiles of water and non-perishable food. During a disaster or pandemic, it may be impossible or difficult to get to a store that has supplies (without fighting with the masses!). Also, keep in mind that public access to water could be interrupted by certain threats or issues like power outages.
Types of foods you should stock up on include those that don’t require refrigeration or cooking, and those that require little to no water in case your supply needs to be saved.
2. Stay in tune with vital information – What’s worse than a global disaster happening at all? Not having any source of crucial or vital information to be aware of the oncoming threat ahead-of-time, or to help you get through the aftermath. That means you’ll need to add a few other points of contact or resources to your emergency contact list for pandemic or disaster survival.
Helpful numbers or web sources to sign up for include –
a. CDC.gov – The CDC’s website is always up to date with the latest world pandemic research, news, notifications, and case statistics. Without the internet, you can also reach them on their Hotline at 800-232-4636 (1-800-CDC-Info). The line is available 24/7 in English and Spanish. By email, the CDC can be reached at cdcinfo@cdc.gov.
b. Local and state governments – Bookmark, write down or sign up for notifications from your local and state government websites to ensure you have access to trustworthy news during a world pandemic or global disaster.
c. Connect with the radio and other forms of communication – Not everything is connected to the internet these days, so it’s best to be sure you have a connection to the outside world in case the wifi goes down. Get a radio that’s capable of tapping into local or national radio stations, a TV that has an antenna, or subscribe to publications online or in print, that you trust for news.
By now you might be wondering: what other types of pandemic survival gear would be helpful to buy ahead of time? Your ultimate pandemic survival list is coming up next!
Global Pandemic Survival Gear You Need
If you’re serious about prepping for a global pandemic or disaster, here’s a list of goods that’ll help with any ‘worst-case-scenario’ type of situation.
● First aid emergency kit
● Alcohol-based hand sanitizer
● Butane torch
● Portable water filter
● Gas
● Blankets
● Solar power generator
● Cellular signal boosting kit
● Face masks or gas masks
● Hazmat suits
● Cleaning supplies
● Trash bags
● Rubber gloves
● Duct tape
The Final Word – Pandemic Survival Guide
When it comes to global pandemics or disasters, you can never be too prepared. Especially considering how much we’ve all gone through with the recent coronavirus pandemic. With the information you’ve gained today, you now know how to survive a pandemic with helpful health tips, survival gear, and more.
Since human transmission is high on the list of causes of global pandemics, a large population is hitting the great outdoors and getting back in touch with nature. If you’re looking to get off the grid, with expert-backed advice and tested gear and goods, look no further than Crow Survival.
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