On another board, there was a comment about having a safe room to isolate yourself in when H5N1 arrives. There was no elaboration, and my question about the need for a safe room on that website has not yet been answered. Will it be necessary to seclude one’s self in a sealed, positive pressure enironment when Avian Flu strikes a geographic area?? I was not aware this was necessary unless perhaps you had a family member who was in the same house who had contracted the virus. Can someone respond to this question?? If this is a requirement for survival…..HOW can it possibly be done ??? It requires constant electricity to power a fan. Unless you are set up with solar this will NOT be possible. And even then would be “iffy”….. Anyone have any definative info on this???
iouJC…these are things that can be planned for, but until you are directly hit or in house all of the time you really will not know. I plann to have one room sealed off anyways to conserve on heat, I have stocked up on extra blankets and some plastic sheeting and tape just in case..I would really hate to have to seperate one of my children, but if I had to I would. An isolation room for an ill person is a good idea, but if you are hunkering down then just focus on heat and food for know. These little things will have to work themselves out as we go along. If and when avian flu goes H2H we will still have hydro and stores and things for a period of time. But stock on the neccessities to start, No one knows exactly what is going to happen when this hits, we are doing this all by guess and by golly also. Just keep readying, but don,t get yourself down and out…take each day as it comes and when you feel overwhelmed..well I pray and prep… They really did not keep accurate details in the 1918 pandemic(which was the worst one)..They where just coming home from the war when it broke out. Relaxe and have fun in your preps, and keep reminding yourself that you are ahead of the game. If you need to chat you know where to get me..
When one uses the term ‘safe room’, it conjures the idea of a burglar-proof hideaway ala Jodie Foster’s flick, with steel reinforced walls, a seperate ventilation system, etc. Hoever, keeping out nano-particles in a large edifice inhabited by multiple members of a household is a whole ‘nuther ball of wax. For starters, creating a positive pressure lamina room reqires an always on compressed air source, HEPA filtration for the central air and gas systems, sealing of windows and a number of technical and environmental challeges that are beyond the means of those not able to do a muti-tens of thousand dollar refit. Influenza is transmissible 24–48 hours before a person is symptomatic; by the time a family member is identified as needing isolation, the virus is on every toothbrush, hair comb, rug, and counter in the home. The only fall back is proper pandemic hygiene an masks to minimize further exposure, and medications.
You can attempt to seperate family members who are symptomatic in one end of the house, but you also must make sure they have adeuate ventilation/cooling/heat-would not go to the extreme of sealing forced air registers into the area or not allowing them to open widows in the summer. In multi-story homes, remember that upper floors become hot in summer and basements become cold in winter. If one considers barricading oneself in one’s home at the onset of a local flu outbreak, few will have the luxury or money or supplies for a multi week, much less multi month seclusion-most of us will still have to hold a job.
I’m a critical care nurse whose skills will be essential for the benefit of the community, and even if I wanted or was even able to stay put, conscience dictates I do otherwise. That said, I work 6 days on and 8 days off, and at some point I really, really, really will want to come home (after a shower and change of clothes, of course). The moment I come home, the safe room is violated because the air I breathe gets pulled into the air return and into every room of the house. Don’t mean to put a damper on things, but outside of wearing a biohazard suit 24/7 or moving to a remote South Pacific atoll, there is little to do to prevent some exposure. Am open to suggestions as to how to recify some of these obstacles. My best to you and yours…
Wow. WyomingBill RN, I have many of your same concerns. My hubby is an E.R. RN and we sure as heck aren’t willing to be separated for weeks and months on end, so inevitably he would be entering our “safe” environment.
In fact, in all our pandemic preparing, his coming and going poses the most potential problems. We don’t have it all figured out yet, but some of the ideas we’ve thought of include: 1) He would enter house through garage where he would have a decontam station. Big trash can, plastic bag. Although he would not wear his scrubs home from work, he would still completely undress and place clothes in plastic bag-lined trash can. He would put slather on sanitizer, cover his hair with a hair cover, put on clean booties (shoe covers), cover up with a sheet, or towel, or disposable gown and then enter house and go directly to shower. Then scrub, scrub, scrub.
That takes care of part of the problem, but then there is still the problem of - what if he is infected and doesn’t know it yet? It’s like he would have to go around in a psychological and social bubble. Everything he touches would have to be disinfected. No one could kiss him. It’s all so difficult to contemplate and figure out. He really would have to have his own zone in the house. An area everyone else avoids as much as possible. Hmm… But what about bedtime? Does this mean he has to sleep alone?
Anyway, it’s a problem. And if he does get sick then of course we’ll probably all get sick because I’m not going to leave him to suffer alone and in isolation. I’ve thought about getting a travel trailer to use as a sickroom. But then I would be the one tracking viruses back into the house.
At that point, let’s hope the Tamiflu (or Relenza or Vira 38 or sauerkraut or ACE inhibitors) work.
Thank you Muskrat & WyomingBill RN …..what you have said is exactly what I thought about this issue. I live in an old “very ventilated” house…..due to settling of the foundation etc. So, as you say, it would require multi- thousands of dollars to do anything along those lines! And, I also figured just going outside would “blow” the whole set-up also, just as you said. I have no family members to isolate, just me and the doggies, who will also stay inside 24/7 when this thing comes here. I feel OK woth doing an isolation at home……I am fairly well prepped and now am working on “cash reserves”…ie, cash reserved to pay bills when this hits full force. This will also be an interesting aspect, because I believe most banks will be “down” also. Am looking into converting cash into money orders as a possible way to pay bills……
ScaredyCat, you’re thinking along the right lines in terms of a decontamination setup in the garage. And of course put the “outside clothes” in the laundry ASAP, with hot water and/or bleach.
I don’t think there’s much point in trying to seal rooms airtight etc. Just keep windows open to the extent possible to get fresh air, and keep reasonable social distances, and wash hands, and all the usual hygiene routines. Mild exposures might over time build immunity; this is an unknown but we will find out.
Re. can’t kiss your husband: try this exercise. Next time he gets home, sit down together on the couch and just hold hands. And very gently, with all of your awareness, pay close attention to each others’ hands. Don’t let this turn quickly into sex, just stick with the exercise, with your hearts and minds fully engaged. You will be surprised at the intimacy of simple contact such as that. And it can sustain you at times when you can’t kiss and can’t sleep together.
Every single one of our ancestors survived to have kids and tell the tale. 100% is a damn good track record. Each of us has all of that in our lineage and in our instincts. We’re going to make it, OK?
“ScaredyCat, you’re thinking along the right lines in terms of a decontamination setup in the garage. And of course put the “outside clothes” in the laundry ASAP, with hot water and/or bleach.”
Regarding washing clothes (and dishes, too, for that matter) I think one of the State plans or even a national plan had guidelines for hospital infection control and different guidelines for infection control in the home. I’m pretty sure the home guidelines were relatively lax, including the use of cold water and less stringent rules for surface washdowns.
I asked, in effect, what’s gained at home (if anything) by trying to observe hospital infection control guidelines rather than the less stringent guidelines.
I got no answer to that.
Any ideas? I think I may be able to backtrack to the source documents, but I’d like to think there might be a meaningful answer beyond the notion that hygiene is usually more necessary in hospitals than at home.
I’m not opposed to investments of time and money but I’d like to know before the fact what’s likely to be useful and what not.
Safe travel?
Suppose for those who needed to travel and had the money that they could check into a quarantine hotel to stay in a safe room for some sufficient number of days before boarding a safe plane to wherever they wanted to go?
More to that, any way to test prospective travelers with diagnostic chips to reduce quarantine time…to a day, say?
I understand there’s an incubation period for people who will be taken ill, but some people, maybe most, could be “infected” and “infectious” without showing symptoms.
Speaking of diagnostic tests, how feasible might it be to do periodic tests at home with test kits? Is the test chip likely to be cheap and simple as a home pregnancy test, or is it likely to be costly and technically difficult to administer?
New to this site,great going!Question.I missed the part on why we would need water and power???What about a flu epidemic/PANDEMIC would cut those off? Has this site a list to go from to get started with preparation? I am urban based and woner how staying inside will work.Hubby and I had 1950′s and 60′s version and were both very ill for both and both lost kin in the 1918 flu.Our daughter and grands have never had either flu and live in suburban Orlando near airport so we worry especially about them and they have little extra $$ to stock up and live in a rental.
A pandemic would cause absenteeism everywhere. There would be an estimated 50–75% staffing (or less) everywhere. This virus disproportionately afflicts children and otherwise healthy young adults, the latter being the backbone of essential services. Thus, there may not be people to maintain things like power plants and lines, telephone outages, gas leaks, sewer problems, and trash pickup. In the 1918 pandemic, 80% of the garbage collectors in San Fransisco were out sick, so trash collection ceased. Therefore, it would be wise to be ready for any number of interruptions in essential services. The preparedness page here has an abundance of resources that are quite useful. http://www.fluwikie.com/index.php?n=Consequences.PandemicPreparednessGuides
Thanks a million, Scaredy Cat. You’ve granted me an e-piphany. We have a bilevel, 5 bedroom with a walk-in root cellar off the fith bedroom. For some reason I had never considered a one way traffic flow through the house. There is a ‘mud room’ at the back entrance with coat hooks-a perfect decontam area. Clean ‘inside clothes’ can be waiting here. In through the back door, and only exit the front where the hall closet can have a new set of ‘outside clothes’ waiting. Genius, pure genius…
Is there a Slacker Curve?
I’d guess those who abandon work, school, etc. would do so according to things like attack rate, mortality, availability of vaccine and drugs, etc. not to mention the nature of their work. A guy who works in a hospital is a essential person, whereas the guy who works in a jewelery shop or a middle school student are not. The more severe the disease, the more businesses and services would / should close shop or reduce workforce. That would happen anyway insofar as storekeepers paid close attention to their traffic and sales.
Essential services like electricity, water, gas, food to some extent not covered by stockpiling, fuel (gasoline) and so on. More thorough consideration would produce a better list. These services should continue more or less unabated with special consideration given to supporting and safeguarding the workforce.
Earlier stated…recovered antibody positive persons should be employed in circumstances as their skills are needed and sufficient, physical condition permitting.
I mentioned something last night having to do with local wave reports…meaning, local broadcast reports of new cases. Just as the common sense of a Slacker Curve takes workers out of service as a wave come on, it might put them back into the local economy in some proportion as the wave recedes.
The Slacker Curve is more a talking point than a real thing, still to be developed according to commonsense rules of thumb. It might be more a table or a step function than a curve, but something like this could be a common point of departure for ordering or taking work absences, and I think it’s pretty common to emergency response planning.
need to close thread due to volume on servers