If any of my very early readers are still hanging around, and I hope at least a few are, you will recall that this blog started in March 2020 to report on our experience with COVID-19 and self-quarantining.
I just reread my first post from March 14, 2020, and was gratified to find it wasn’t bad. That was before we moved to our permanent prepper home in the middle of nowhere, so things were much different. I laughed, reading that we considered the cat prepped when we had 48 day us worth of food. We now store at least 200 days’ worth of cat food. We were also trying to buy more eggs as COVID hit and panic buying started. These days, our chickens lay 15 or 16 a day and everyone else is buying eggs from us.
I guess it’s only natural that things have changed in more than five years.
Some Things Stay the Same
Despite the pandemic being five years in the past, there are 350 people dying from COVID each week in the United States. There is also a new version ripping through China. It apparently spread during the May Day holiday in which people went home. All those people on trains, mingling with family and friends at parties, and then coming home on more trains are the likely culprit. The same variety of COVID has now appeared in the U.S.
This is all happening at the same time the news media seems to have finally agreed:
- Masks do little or nothing to stop the spread.
- The virus was created in a lab, not in a cave or bats or a so-called “wet market.”
- Gain of function research is dangerous.
- The COVID vaccines caused significant problems in the young and may have contributed to a rise in miscarriages. Many of the deaths and side effects of the vaccines went unreported.
Some Things Change
Even if 350 people are dying weekly, I don’t expect another massive COVID pandemic. If we get one, I would hope we treat it differently and react without restricting our rights to assemble, to go to church, and to operate a business. For example, I have no problem quarantining the sick so they don’t spread a disease. This approach has been successfully used since the late middle ages, and back then they were dealing with diseases like smallpox and the plague in far dirtier conditions with no antibiotic wipes. But locking up the healthy? Mandating businesses close? That’s a non-starter. Let the people decide for themselves.
We have no plans to self-quarantine. I might use it as an excuse to limit my trips off the property, especially to social events, if there’s a large outbreak in this area. I am perfectly happy staying at home with my books and my bees. Getting my wife to stay home would be more of a challenge. Things would have to be quite bad before she pulls back from her social engagements.
How to Prep for COVID’s Return
I don’t think COVID is coming back, but it is important to be prepared for possibilities. In our case, we’re sufficiently prepped, including cat food, chocolate, pretzels, and coffee, some things we had trouble finding last time around. Coincidentally, I even picked up five bags of chicken feed last week.
If you were not a prepper five years ago, or if you are too young to have been doing the shopping during the last wave, toilet paper, face masks and antibiotic wipes sold out first. Then paper towels and bottled water were hard to find. Certain foods got scarce after that, a reminder that shelves can empty quickly. Many stores instituted limits on how much people could buy. It was months before the supply chain crisis hit and other goods ran out.
If you are a prepper, you should have food and toilet paper. If not, now is your chance. You should have a stock of both, even if COVID never reaches your state.
If you are already working from home and facing pressure to return to the office, this could reverse that recent trend and potentially send workers home again.
Memorial Day
On this Memorial Day, please take time to reflect on the sacrifices made by American military personnel across the centuries and around the world.
While it is never wrong to thank a veteran or an active duty member for their service, please keep in mind Memorial Day is when we remember those who lost their lives to protect freedom and liberty. Veterans Day, which always falls on November 11, is when we salute those all of those who served. Armed Service Day, which was about ten days ago, is when you should recognize all those active duty personnel.
