Long time lurker, first time poster.
I wanted to see who else here is in the UK, if they are prepping and what they think might happen in Britain when TSHTF.
I am at this stage not prepping as I live in a tiny flat in the centre of London with strangers, I am also planning to move soon so it is just not practical.
What about you?
London boy. I am in exact same position planning to move soon to a quieter location i dont live in London am taking all my preps with me
I live in the UK and I am personally in despair about the state of denial that the government has chosen in place of policy.
The public and main stream media have chosen the kneejerk reaction of ‘scaremongering’ in place of clear thinking. And everyone else have ducked under the radar so as not to get burnt for said scaremongering.
What are we to do?
Hi, I’m near Gatwick, I’m prepped for 3 months for a family of 5. People here are in serious denial wich I think will lead to a lot of collateral damage. It’s very, very sad.
Whenever I mention Bird flu to people here, they just laugh at me sying that I am neurotic, and so to make myself seem a bit less carzy I laugh too, and concede that I probably am. To be fair though, even if I was in a position to prep I am not sure I would mainly because to SIP would be close to impossible in central London, and also because I think I am still in slight denial about the reality of the situation.
I guess it is hard to believe it is going to happen, when literally nobody I know has given pandemic flu a second thought.
another flat living eurppean here.. prepping in a colective seems imposible.. as for food preps. But the small and the scarse items like masks, tamiflu etc you could do well. It would not even fill a small box. I am in the proces of moving to another place, and my food preps is only 5 boxes big, and my calculatiotion says enough for 3 months essential.. (pasta, rice, beans, lentils, peas, canned tomatos, vegetables, and tuna.. and a lot of taste ingredients) the ekstra will be pure luxury :)
Urdar Norge are you prepping to SIP or just in case deliveries of food fall down?
I am prepping to put myself and family over to see us through very possible food shortages i think food will be there just scarce so i am not really prepping for an all out SIP just a big help out as we are in a much better position than parts ou us i think so anyway,people here do panic buy i have experienced it
SIP.. Storable vegetables (in the cellar), frosen meat and fish and Toilet paper will be my last minute preps. The food will then the double, enough for aprox 6 months. I was all the time planning to see the development, and if very bad, go for my cabin in the country side., But as for sip in a flat.. I think it can be done, but you will need to get outdoors some times, and that means you need masks etc to get thruu the stairs etc. Just awoid people on the street. I strongly belive that most infections will be by tuch, and close contact. So social distancing should work.
But the building you live in, and your neighbours are essential, you need to coopoerate. To desinfect comon stairs etc, to do neighboorhood watch, schecking in on everybody etc. What you will NOT do, is to tell them you have big preps.. They may not listen to you now, but if you have knowlegde, they will have big ears if there is a pandemic :)
I have lived in collektive for many years, the dishwash was hell, and I asure you that prepping and SIP in a collektive will not work, if you are not very very tight in culture, ideology and friendship.
I also have this idea of age.. The seniors should be the one to take the risk for their children and grandchildrens. In city whre SIP is hard, it would be peice of cake if someone got go and get some extra supplies for those who are in quarntene.
I’m in a relatively isolated, rural part of Wales. I foresee a different sort of problem here. True we are far enough away from other people to easily isolate ourselves and there is plenty of ‘wild food’ out here if necessary but I imagine that food deliveries will stop out here far sooner than for urban areas (there are often delivery issues to shops here anyway). Also I imagine that we will lose power and water before urban areas because the power companies won’t consider us a priority because there are so few people out here. It’s a long, long way to a hospital too - an hour and a half to the nearest proper casualty department so medical care will be less available I think. Swings and roundabouts eh?
I read today in the Guardian, that the PTB will be telling sick people to stay at home an dthat relatives should be sent to get tamiflu for them. They know that the hospitals won’t be able to cope say they are going to stop people for even trying to go there. I think they are basically going to leave people to care for themselves and hope that it turns out to be a lot lethal than it currently is.
They also said they would not close airports :-(
Lurker - first post. I’m prepping food and water, not yet for alternative cooking etc. Getting more worried following the china pig news, nobody else that I know is prepping - they think I’m a loon if I mention Avian flu - “it’s a bird thing right?”
worried in wales Are you hearing reports in your radio bullitins in welsh re Lancaster
anonymous – at 14:24
Lancaster?
yes about 10 days ago there were reports on the local radio were i live saying birds were dying off in boths stafford and lancaster when i got home i tried all the local stations and could not find it but i did catch a welsh broadcast and she was repeating the word lancaster but it was in welsh.i tried io flag you up with the post worried in wales please post if you scroll down you will see it.you must of been off that few days it was around sept 3rd there were reports just after saying the birds died unrelated due to hot weather i have left something about it a few days ago on i think the thread what are you hearing in the field.
Is this what you were after Beatrice?
HEALTH bosses have allayed fears of an outbreak of killer avian flu after 10 wild birds were found dead at a Burton farm.
The gruesome discovery of nine dead Canada Geese and one mallard duck was made yesterday at Lawns Farm, off Shobnall Road.
However, mystery surrounds where the rotting birds came from or how they got there. The cause of death cannot be determined due to the advanced stage of decomposition.
A spokesman for East Staffordshire Borough Council, which cleared away the carcases, said: “The geese have now been removed and there is no danger to public health.
“We do not now how they got there or how long they have been there. They are also too far decomposed to test them.”
Almost a year ago today health chiefs warned that East Staffordshire faced a ‘real threat’ of being hit by a potentially deadly bird flu pandemic. Avian flu is a form of virus normally only suffered by birds. However, a form of it, H5N1, has recently been known to infect people.
Many thanks Anon 66 yes that is it i just think it is worth watching since they say the birds are to far gone to test yet they verify they are Flu free
Sorry Beatrice Elizabeth, I hadn’t seen your post. I haven’t heard anything but I will have a poke around BBC cymru etc and see if I can see anything further to what is posted by Anon 66.
OK Beatrice Elizabeth, I’ve had a look around and didn’t find anything further, but it is worth noting that Welsh news tends to be very provincial and doesn’t look much beyond the border. Sorry!
I’ve just started reading the UK’s operational plans Influenza pandemic contingency planning: Operational guidance on the provision of care in a community setting
There is a small improvement in that they now use 2.5% CFR rather than the previous 0.37%.
However, they assume a 3.7% hospitalisation rate, which is supposed to be derived from 2.5% CFR. (BTW the US CDC estimates 11% hospitalization for a 1918 scenario of 2% CFR)
Which means they expect 2 out of 3 of hospitalised patients to die.
Now, assuming for each death, there are a number of people desperately ill, eg having difficulty breathing and needing oxygen. Do they seriously think that for every 2 patients who eventually die, despite treatment, there is only 1 other person who needs oxygen?
Or they expect to be able to treat everyone else that are not close to death at home.
This begs the question of how they are going to triage all those people gasping for breathe and decide who gets the hospial bed?
People who get sick are supposed to call a hotline, where the operator will run through an ‘algorithm’ (fancy word for list of questions) to determine whether that person is indeed infected with the pandemic virus. If the answer is yes, then the patient can assign a family member to go to a local pick-up point to get their dose of tamiflu.
That’s the big picture, there are refinements like those living alone etc.
This begs another question: how long will it take for the general public to figure out that pretending to have those commonly known symptoms like fever and cough is the easiest way to get their hands on precious antivirals before they run out?
This will give new meaning to the phrase ‘worried well’ - those who are worried that the stockpile of tamiflu will run out.
Anon 22 I thought that aswell re you could just ring up and get a number so i phoned NHS direct a cheek i know seen as no one was ill but i was put through to customer service information.They were actually very nice i phoned at an off peak time monday am when gps qwew open and was told it was not going to be exactly like that a medical professional would call to verify the symptoms to avoid stocks being unfairly claimed.I was quite pleased with that.
Beatrice Elizabeth in uk
First, no medical professional, however good they are, will be able to tell on the phone whether someone is faking it or dying from it.
Secondly, it won’t stop all the calls from jamming up the lines.
Third, if you read the paper carefully, the idea is to have trained but non-medical people taking calls, so that GP’s and nurses will only deal with those that are a) under the age of 7 b) at risk because of prior history, or c) that the first phone responder consider someone who might need extra care. Everyone else gets diagnosed on the spot and gets the tamiflu if they can find someone to pick it up.
Read the plan carefully.
The whole plan is a fairy tale.
HI everyone,
Anon 22, I know you’re in the medical profession. Where can we buy medical supplies? and..can anyone, say me, buy them.
I read in the Great Influenza that the most critical factor would be to keep the sick hydrated. I would like to buy hydration fluids but I dont even know what they’re called. You know, the drip thing you get in hospital. I would also like to buy all the other stuff we need to get the drip into the vein. Our new Au Pair is a qualified nurse so she would know how to get the stuff into the body but I need to go out and buy everything she needs.
Has anyone in the UK figured out how to get Tamiflu yet?
I agree with Anon 22, the plan is not great, really, best thing to do is plan to be completly self sufficient in the event of a pandemic.
I totally agree with crazy lady although i am sticking to the packet rehydration from boots i would be very interested in buying tamiflu but have been put off by con reports anyone know of a reputable tamiflu site in uk
I totally agree with crazy lady although i am sticking to the packet rehydration from boots i would be very interested in buying tamiflu but have been put off by con reports anyone know of a reputable tamiflu site in uk
I totally agree with crazy lady although i am sticking to the packet rehydration from boots i would be very interested in buying tamiflu but have been put off by con reports anyone know of a reputable tamiflu site in uk
sorry about the triple post the post click was not responding
London boy – at 07:21 Urdar-Norge has some great advice. There are many preps that may become hard to find which are lightweight and portable. In such circumstance get those first, then move on to more substantial preps after the move. Good luck. You’re not alone in not finding those receptive to this very real thrat.
London boy – at 07:21 Urdar-Norge has some great advice. There are many preps that may become hard to find which are lightweight and portable. In such circumstance get those first, then move on to more substantial preps after the move. Good luck. You’re not alone in not finding those receptive to this very real threat.
Sorry for the double post. Computer, Wiki and self have been a bit ‘buggy’ lately.
You can’t buy IV fluids unless you are a registered medical professional.
You can get oral rehydration salts, from Boots.
Anon 22…I was afraid of that….Do you know that I do not know a single person in the medical profession personally or enough to ask to get me some IV fluid….ok, well, I’m off to Spain in a couple of weeks, on my own this time without the husband and kids which will give me more time to go into pharmacies or I may even pay a doctor there for prescriptions if I need to.
By the way, last time I was in Spain, I had the bird flu talk with a pharmasist (you can no longer get antibiotics without a prescription there) and I told him that I was really worried about this bug mutating and he said….”well you should be worried, we have no immunity to this thing and when it happens it’s going to be terrible, everyone should be worried!” I’m not sure if the medical profession in Spain shared this view but I will find out when I’m out there next. The pharmasist seemed to feel that if I went to any doctor, they would be more than happy to get prescriptions written for me. I Shall post my finding.
I will also find out if I can get IV hydrating fluids in Spain as well as Tamiflu.
Last time I was in France I wanted to do the same thing, see if I could get anything without a prescription, but I find that the language barrier in France is a problem, the fact they hate the English and are not overly fond of th e Americans is not great either. Is anyone here going to France soon that could look into it?