Day 43: 2020 Pandemic. Don’t Lose Track of Other Potential Disasters During The Pandemic
By: Bob Mayer
Tags: Coronavirus, Covid 19, Survival, Disaster, Preparation

California was shaking the other morning. We had deadly tornadoes in this area last week killing 33 that would have been front page news except that COVID-19 is the focus. The summer is looming with warmer weather. The southwest is still suffering from an almost two decades long drought.

Yes, happy news on top of happy news, I know. Just because I’m paranoid doesn’t mean people have been out to get me. You know who I’m talking about.

I think we all now accept that being prepared is key. People have asked me how I had surgical masks and N100 respirators before this happened and it was just part of my preparation.

BTW-if you have a respirator like an N100 or an N95 with an exhale valve, you should still wear a surgical mask over it because while it protects you, it doesn’t do as much for those around you with the exhale. Anywho.

My wife and I were talking about when this first reared up and we ramped up preparation, well before I even started this daily blog. How we worst-cased things and made sure we were ready. I really don’t believe we’ve hit peak yet-in fact I think a lot of these states that are thinking about opening up are going to be slammed (read Georgia)-but so far, social distancing and other measures have helped prevent it being horrible; simply terrible as we reach 50,000 dead.

Since this started I’ve expanded my preparation, not only for ourselves, but to check out various things, such as solar power. I’m still working with it and plan in the next week or so to take some of this stuff to the mountains and test it out at a base camp. Yesterday, I activated a two way satellite messenger because it’s always concerned me when I’m by myself out in the wild, out of cell phone coverage, and something happens back home with my wife or to me in the wilds. You know, sort of 127 hours thing. So I’ll let you know how that works out. But that’s for later. BTW- did you know park rangers have had to perform more than 2 dozen rescues of idiots going to check it out from the same area where that event occurred, including one man who fell, broke his leg and had to crawl for four days, trying to get out? Duh.

I did earlier posts on basic preparation and I’m going to circle back. While a pandemic is perhaps the only, definitely one of the few, natural disasters that doesn’t lead to a lack of water, the #1 priority in normal preparation is water. My base line is two cases of bottled water per person in your household. Just get them, put them in a dark closet and forget about them. Until you need them. Then a first aid kit for basic things. I’m a fan of having a Quik-Clot bandage handy. I’ve got a bunch and have used it once. I carry them on my bike, in my day pack, in my Grab-n-Go bags, in my Jeep, etc.

An emergency radio, that also doubles as a flashlight and an emergency cell phone charger is another must have. And finally a survival manual with first aid info. I’ve got three I recommend.

Here’s the slideshow on the basics you can accumulate for under $60.

Stay safe. Stay positive. Be like Cool Gus. Or even Scout.

The Green Beret Preparation and Survival Guide. Also now in Kindle Unlimited.

The Green Beret Pocket-Sized Survival Guide (same as above, minus the preparation part in order to be smaller in print)