Heading for Lockdown? A Survivor's Guide to Help You Through it...
5 min read
by Gav Munro
I’ve been on lockdown close to Wuhan for a month. I've seen the figures rise to 80k cases in a matter of weeks, now we're through the worst of it and heres some things I've learnt.
(some FAQs at the end too).
1. It's Not the Zombie Apocalypse
We’re gonna get through this, it’s going to get a lot worse before it gets better but we’re gonna be ok.
We just need to put on our big boy/girl trousers and work together.
Hundreds of thousands of people have contracted the virus over the last 3 months. That’s around 0.00002% of the world’s population. Experts say there won’t be a vaccine for another 12 months.
Based on the current outbreak let’s look at a worst case scenario. In the next 12 months a further 10m people get infected. Do you know what percent of the world’s population that is? 0.12%. If 10m get it on current death rates 100-200k will die.
Don’t be a drama queen and settle in for the ride.
2) AVOID the Following
When I find myself in times of trouble, I try and avoid the following:
- Conspiracy theorists
- Over-anxious friends
- Over-imaginative friends
- Clickbait media
- Doom mongers
- Negative people
3) Things That Don’t Contain the Virus
Spend time with things that won't make you sick:
- Your sofa
- your pets
- Your guitar
- Your GF/BF
- Netflix
- Booze
- Food
- Music
- (fill in the gaps-you get the idea)
4) Just The Facts Stupid!
Try and chose logic as a way of navigating through the fog of BS that’s out there.
It’s the first super-virus the world has encountered since the explosion of the internet. You know the internet don’t you? That thing where every idiot has an opinion and their ‘feelings’ are as valuable as expert’s ‘facts’.
During the lockdown here, social media misinformation went crazy, think about it, an entire population with nothing better to do but go online and spread conspiracy theories.
Find and stick to reliable/informed/considered sources for your news on the virus but don’t obsess with them, don’t be refreshing the death count on the trackers…I’ve tried it its boring.
I’ve been using the following websites for my info, they’ve been good so far:
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/coronavirus-death-toll/
https://covid19info.live/
https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/situation-reports/
5) Stock Up but Don't Panic Buy!
Support your local store (not supermarket) and buy essentials for 2 months. Don’t panic buy family packs of Wotsits and Pot Noodles, buy ingredients. You won't starve, under quarantine you'll be allowed out every few days for essentials and shops will still deliver during the outbreak.
Can’t cook? Don’t worry, you’ll have time to learn. Get the basics, skip the luxuries.
You’ll need to dig into that holiday fund or little Johnny’s piggy bank. You’ll need to be financially independent for at least a month. So set a budget, be creative.
Think about going away camping somewhere with the people you love.
Learn a new skill, read that book you got for Christmas, have sex, tidy the house, do yoga, compose a song, make a website, sell your junk on eBay or write that book you’ve been boring your friends about for years.
8) Don't Be Racist
Try your best not to blame your local Chinese takeaway for the spread of the Coronavirus throughout the world.
In fact do the opposite, they’ll probably know a lot of people a lot worse off than you so ask them if they have family back in China and if they do, ask them how they are.
Be kind.
9) Check in on the Most Vulnerable People in Your Family/Community
The people most at risk from the coronavirus are the old and people with pre-existing conditions. Show them love and care. Ask your old mum or grannie if she’s ok and if she needs anything from the shops.
Remember to wear a mask when visiting the old and vulnerable. Masks WORK in preventing you spreading the disease if you have it (without realising it).
If you know people with asthma or high blood pressure, see how they're doing.
Check in on people with mental disorders too, they are vulnerable in crisis like this, the risk of suicide is higher than ever.
We're living through the 'me, myself and I' part of our history, time to get in touch with your empathetic side.
10) Think for yourself!
How many times have you been sat in your boring office job and said to yourself ‘I wish I had 4 weeks off, I’d …………’ Time to fill that gap in.
UPDATED: 15TH MARCH 2020
11) Tip Your New Emergency Services
In any crisis like this the emergency services spectrum widens.
Nurses, doctors and all medical staff become heroes and should be treated that way.
Police will be the people protecting you from the looters and bad people and the army will probably be on the streets to prevent any civil unrest.
But there are more emergency services in any crisis...
Here are the other people who are risking their health to help you, reward them well:
- Food delivery riders
- Uber/Taxi drivers
- Grocery store staff
- Security guards
12) Get Ready for the WTF!!! Moment
I woke up on Feb 13th this year and saw this...
Spikes happen because new testing criteria is introduced, backlogged data appears or a new outbreak area surfaces. Prepare for this happening.
13) Plan your Virus Eradication Party
You won't be seeing people for a while, so make a guest list and start to plan the party you're going to have when this thing's over.
14) Stay Healthy
The coronavirus LOVES people with low immune levels, keep them high.
Eat foods such as
Citrus fruits
Red bell peppers
Broccoli
Garlic
Ginger
Spinach
Yogurt
Almonds
Exercise regularly, walk up the stairs 20 times or use your imagination!
15) It will END!
Outbreaks end, they just do. China now has less than 10k active cases, 67k have recovered, 3k have died. We're seeing the light at the end of the tunnel shining brighter every day.
Eradication of the virus won't happen now, it looks like it's in the bio-chain now but it'll be manageable in the future.
This virus will DEFINE you so try and battle through it by doing the right thing.
FAQs
If it’s not serious why is it such a big deal?
I never said it wasn’t serious. It’s a new super-virus that most people recover from but there’s currently no vaccine or cure, everyone who gets it infects 2-3 more people and the infections are doubling every few days
The only treatment is throwing people onto life support systems and pumping enough air into their lungs to give their bodies a break and hopefully start producing the required white blood cells to fight it.
The current official figures are under-estimated, it's much bigger!
Of course it is, in any crisis like this figures are underestimated, the experts think by up to 10x. For every person that's been detected they'll be many more out there.
It also infects like crazy, at the moment figures are for every 1 person who has it they’ll give it to a further 2-3 people.So the plan should be to eradicate the virus before it becomes so pandemic that it can’t be eliminated from the bio-virus food chain.
So yeah, try to take it seriously, just just don’t panic.
You've got more chance of being run-over than catching the coronavirus!
True, so does that mean you don't look both ways before crossing a road? Take precautions and everything will be ok.
Masks don't work!
Wrong and right. They don't really help preventing you get the virus. They DO help preventing you spreading the virus if you have it (and remember you don't know you have it for a while if ever). Why do you think surgeons/dentists wear masks? To stop them infecting their patient.
If you're looking after the old and vulnerable and they catch it, it's likely you gave it them. Wear a mask.
Here in China the masks are being used as a social signal to show that we’re taking precautions and ‘you won’t catch it from me!’.
How to wash the dirty virus off?
Leave a big tub of hand sanitizer in your hallway and wash your hands every time you arrive home and then every few hours you’re home.
Why did China keep this virus a secret for so long?
They didn't. On December 31 last year, China alerted WHO to several cases of unusual pneumonia in Wuhan, a port city of 11 million people in the central Hubei province. The virus was unknown. The WHO reported to the rest of the world's governments on Jan 1st 2020.
Reports in the media started to circulate in mid January 2020:
Hope that was helpful, now just sit back and wait for summer and hope that it goes away!
Please share this article to help spread the truth about this crisis.
check out Gav's other experiences in China during the outbreak https://www.gavmunro.co.uk/single-post/2020/03/08/British-Expat-Locked-Down-in-China--What-Ive-learned