Insurance Premiums You Can Eat
By jack | March 16, 2010
Preparing For a Severe Pandemic: Insurance Premiums You Can Eat
November 13, 2006
Very few people take time out of their day to imagine what life would be like if going to the grocery store could mean a death sentence, not only for you but for your whole family. During a pandemic this could easily be the case.
Once a pandemic is confirmed, air travel may have already begun to deliver it around the world. Because influenza is infectious before symptoms appear, there would be no way to positively identify people who may be infected. It's possible that a pandemic virus could start to show up in your area a couple of weeks after being identified in Hong Kong, Jakarta or Bombay.
When the killer virus does arrive, every aspect of your life will be seriously disrupted. Illness and death on an unprecedented global scale will take an enormous toll on goods and services that we are used to having at our fingertips. Stores, restaurants, schools, offices, day care centers, banks, and government services may close down for weeks at a time. Transportation and delivery of food, medicines, gasoline and other supplies will be interrupted, creating severe shortages. Electric and natural gas utilities and water supply may not be available for extended periods. Quarantines and travel restrictions may be imposed.
Then it is TOO LATE to prepare.
A pandemic may come in waves, each of which could last for six to eight weeks. The 1918-1919 pandemic came in three waves. There is no telling in advance what percentage of the population will be infected, how many of those infected will die, and how many waves the pandemic will have. ?The world's population has no immunity to the current H5N1 virus, the most likely candidate for the next pandemic. Consequently, it is very possible that 30%-40% of the population will become sick. Our entire health care system would be completely overwhelmed. Currently the H5N1 virus kills over 50% of the people it infects, even in places where the medical treatment of the victims has been excellent. With terrible frequency, the virus renders its survivors with severe, long-lasting side effects.
Medicines to treat pandemic flu are currently limited in supply, may not be very effective and may only be available to first responders. Despite lots of media "happy talk," about vaccines, it is unlikely that a vaccine will be available until many months after the pandemic begins.
You really do not want to expose yourself and your loved ones to this viral mass murderer. So, with these sobering pandemic realities in mind, how do you protect your family? The best protection, of course, is not to get sick.
For some of us, preparing for a pandemic is a great deal easier than for others, but most of us, if we make it a priority, can afford to gradually stock up on supplies, starting with a couple of weeks' worth, and eventually accumulating enough essentials for a month or two so that we can "shelter in place" until a wave of influenza has passed and it is safe to restock for the possibility of another wave.
You should consider stored non-perishable food, water and other necessities as premiums for insurance against hunger and deprivation in a disaster. Unlike most of the insurance premiums that you have been paying out in cash for decades, these are insurance premiums you can eat.
What you have to do is figure out what your family needs to survive while staying home for 2-3 months, assuming that electric, gas and water utilities may not function for much of that time, and begin to shop for and store those items. It's not something you can do in one trip to the supermarket, but something that permits you to take advantage of sales, clean out your closets so that you have more storage space available and be prepared for any disaster.
The rest can be found here: http://www.crimelibrary.com/news/or...1_bird_flu.html
Thank you, Monty. Much appreciated. I'm angry now, at the American government's silly SIP recommendation for 2 weeks. I'm collecting the names of leaders in minority communities - the areas that will be decimated by poor public policy -- and will make sure that they are fully informed about what will happen to their constituents that are unprepared for a pandemic. As a journalist, I can not change behavior, but I can do something to educate those leaders who can make a big enough stink politically to make many people aware of the situation.
I am a believer that community groups can tap the resources of the businesses and local charities and philanthropic individuals to help the poor and the disabled to prepare for a pandemic -- but this can't be done at the last minute. It requires a number of months to come to fruition.
It is criminal for the government to lie about the time that a family needs to shelter in place. Should this government lie persist, the leaders of the disadvantaged communities need to raise holy hell. Just that consciousness-raising activity will, hopefully, bring this preparedness issue on the radar screens of the larger community.
Marilyn Bardsley
Dark Horse
Lead sentence is a great hook. :D
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"....What you have to do is figure out what your family needs to survive while staying home for 2-3 months,..."
FluTrackers policy is to recommend that persons stock 90 days of essential supplies. This will allow for greater flexibility in managing inventory and re-stocking. Also, unanticipated guests will be more easily accomodated.
Lead sentence is a great hook. :D
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Thank you. I pinched the "insurance premiums you can eat" from Shannon, I think, or perhaps you, AD. I forget who I pinched it from, but it always stuck in my mind as a terrific justification for preps.
This article and the one previous to it were written for the Skidaway Island (GA) community just outside of Savannah. The first one is wake-up call; the second one, advice on what to do about it. They will start to appear in the local magazine this week.
I sure hope this works. Dr. Doug Skelton, public health director for 8 coastal communities, is counting on using the detailed survival plan that we develop over the next month as a model for the other communities. I'm just the scribe.:) Once it's agreed, I'll share it here.
4-ABBA
Here's a great article by Darkhorse (Marilyn Bardsley):
Preparing For a Severe Pandemic: Insurance Premiums You Can Eat
November 13, 2006
The rest can be found here: http://www.crimelibrary.com/news/or...1_bird_flu.html
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