Author Topic: Lanard, Sandman, Mackay: Past Time to Tell Public: It will probably go pandemic, prepare now  (Read 164 times)

mixin

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  • welcome to ncovinfo , here we discuss the pandemic threat from the new 2019 Coronavirus
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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.

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.”

« Last Edit: February 23, 2020, 07:25:56 am by mixin »

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gsgs

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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 :
https://www.thestandard.com.hk/section-news/section/11/216631/WHO-advises-lockdown-
« Last Edit: February 24, 2020, 04:53:45 pm by gsgs »