Before the COVID-19 outbreak, I wish I would have known a few things and prepared a little bit better.
In emergency preparedness, we often think of storing food, water, and first-aid kits. We often think about learning basic survival skills. And although these are critical in any emergency preparedness, there are a few parts of preparing for a pandemic specifically that I overlooked.
Hopefully, with this insight and experience, we can all be slightly better prepared if a pandemic of this magnitude spreads again.
The purpose of the kind of preparation as outlined below, of what I wish I would have known before the coronavirus disease outbreak, is to save mental, emotional, and physical energy in an extremely stressful time. With these things done, transitioning to a new “normal” would have been smoother.
During any emergency, we want to be able to think clearly about what we need to do and how to do it. By accomplishing a few of these tasks, I would have been able to be better prepared and thus have more energy to adjust to all of the rapid changes.
From here, the best thing I can do is take what I have learned from the outbreak and transform it into useful information for myself. I can adjust my preparedness for next time.
READ MORE: What To Do If You Run Out Of Toilet Paper
STORAGE
I Wish I Would Have Stored Extra Toiletries
In most emergencies and especially unprecedented emergencies, groups of people tend to buy enough of something to last them quite some time. They do this for any number of reasons, from stores potentially shutting down, to quarantine, to wanting to avoid public spaces for weeks at a time. Especially when we have no reference point for what may or may not happen, people want to stock up on everything that they may need. For the outbreak of COVID-19 specifically, people started to buy toilet paper. When this happens, it sparks scarcity in others. Others who feel like there will not be enough, they should be doing the same as those around them, or simply that they are running out of the supply and need to rebuy it as normal. When we have seen shelves stocked our entire lives–never or rarely seeing anything sold out, unavailable, or limited–the natural human response to seeing something missing is to switch into scarcity and fear. This creates a snowball effect where we purchase more and more of the product, the product becomes less and less available, and scarcity and fear are sparked with even more intensity. I wish I would have thought about and stored other products, such as toilet paper, hand sanitizer, hand soap, and paper towels. These products are not necessarily essential but are definitely helpful for maintaining the semblance of a normal life during a pandemic.READ MORE: Outdoor Survival Tips For People With Kids
FAMILY LIFE
I Wish I Would Have Prepared Better For My Kids
Can anything really prepare us for this? Probably not. But still, I wish I would have done more to prepare. Being stuck at home with kids can be challenging, as probably most of the world would agree right now. Being more involved in creating games, entertainment, and at-home learning opportunities for my kids would have been extremely helpful. I wish that I would have had a box in our emergency preparedness storage full of age-appropriate art projects, math projects, reading projects, and family games. This could have given us new activities and games to look forward to discovering every day. Kids are adjusting to all of the changes just as much as adults are, but they often express this in different ways. I wish that I would have been better prepared to help them adjust without too much stress (or boredom.)