Worried about the Coronavirus Pandemic?

Are you worried about Coronavirus?

Well you should be, but not because of the health hazards. The virus typically only kills people over the age of 50, and even then only kills roughly one in ten people over the age of 50.

The bigger issue seems to be the economy which has currently gone into a tailspin nose dive.

Eg. In the past 26 days the Dow Jones has fallen from 29,551 to 23,581. A drop of over 20% in less than 1 month. Other markets are also similarly effected.

If the economy also continues to head in this direction and the virus becomes a widespread pandemic we will see global economic chaos.

In which case there are some things you should probably do to prepare.

#1. Double Check your Bug Out Bag

Now is a good time to double check your Bug Out Bag. If the economy collapses, wars break out or other problems that cause a societal collapse now is a really good time to make sure your Bug Out Bag is full of everything you need to escape from the rest of society and go off grid completely.

See my older post on Filling Your Bug Out Bag.

If you don't have a Bug Out Bag maybe it is time you finally prepared one?

You will also want a tent, transportation, a plan for getting out of the city (eg. a route and possibly backup routes), and a heading so you know where you are going. Eg. I know a swamp where the deer and wild turkeys are plentiful. Plus it is a swamp, so privacy should be assured.

#2. Self Defense and Hunting

"Speak softly and carry a big stick." - Theodore Roosevelt.

You should have multiple options for self-defense in the event you need to leave the big city and head to the countryside to wait out the chaos. The preppers have the advantage here, many of them have been ready for this sort of thing for years. Still you should definitely invest in something to protect yourself.

Having more than 1 weapon or skill to potentially protect yourself is beneficial, as certain weapons/skills are more suitable for certain situations.

For example:

• Archery is quieter and stealthier than rifles.
• Arrows can be reused, but bullets are one time (the shells can be recycled however).
• Black powder rifles are less likely to run out of ammo because it is easier to make your own.
• Martial arts is more portable than swords.
• Axes and knives are both tools you will end up needing in the wild and to protect yourself.
• Your best defense is to stay hidden. Nobody can threaten someone who cannot be seen.

Archery has an advantage as it is both quieter and can be used for both bowhunting and defense, but an archer is unlikely to run out of ammo as they can easily make more arrows once they know how.

The real trick to archery is that a person really needs lessons to get good at it. In the video below for example a new archery student hits a target ball at a distance of 37 yards/111 feet, and she manages to do it on her first lesson.

An amateur trying to teach themselves archery would struggle to hit a similar sized target at HALF that distance. So getting archery lessons makes a big difference.

Toronto Archery Lessons

Someone who chooses to arm themselves with a bow, axe, knife, and learns some martial arts / how to be stealthy will have an advantage over people who are using rifles and are not stealthy. The rifle hunter will eventually run out of ammo. The exception to this of course is the black powder rifle or anyone who knows how to recycle/make their own bullets, but those are very rare skills.

And even if Coronavirus doesn't become pandemic at least you learned archery and other useful skills. We can always hope that the economy doesn't collapse and everything turns out just fine.

#3. The Five Meter Rule

If possible try to stay at least five meters away from strangers and avoid public places. Why five meters?

Cough droplets carrying the coronavirus can float in the air up to five meters and infect people who are 17 feet away.

Health officials have been telling people to keep a distance of 2 meters, but this is very difficult to do on sidewalks, public transportation, in stores, etc. Let alone 5 meters, which is more ideal.

Worse, the coronavirus can survive on surfaces for up to 1 hour. So if you touch something and then touch your face you could become infected by someone who coughed into their hand, touched an object, and then you touched it less than an hour later.

So you really want to stay 5 meters away from strangers / anyone possibly infected, and if going anywhere public you should avoid touching anything that hasn't been cleaned first. This whole fist-bumping / elbow-bumping idea is actually too risky.

#4. Soap, Soap, Soap

Ironically Purell and similar anti-bacterial products don't actually kill the coronavirus. What you really need is good old fashioned soap and water.

#5. Stop touching your face so often

The average person touches their face at least 20 times per hour. It isn't bad if you are at home all day, but if you go out to a public place you should avoid touching your face.