Wednesday, March 18, 2020

Are You Ready for Lockdown?


According to Foreign Policy, the Covid-19 pandemic is heading only one way - toward lockdown.

Politicians won’t admit it yet, but it’s time to prepare—physically and psychologically—for a sudden stop to all life outside your home.

Whether you are reading this in your living room in Vancouver, office in London, or on a subway in New York City, you need to think hard, and fast, about two crucial questions: Where, and with whom, do you want to spend the next six to 12 weeks of your life, hunkered down for the epidemic duration? And what can you do to make that place as safe as possible for yourself and those around you? 
Your time to answer those questions is very short—a few days, at most. Airports will close, trains will shut down, gasoline supplies may dwindle, and roadblocks may be set up. Nations are closing their borders, and as the numbers of sick rise, towns, suburbs, even entire counties will try to shut the virus out by blocking travel. Wherever you decide to settle down this week is likely to be the place in which you will be stuck for the duration of your epidemic. 
To appreciate what lies ahead for the United States, Canada, Mexico, and the United Kingdom, pay heed to Italy, France, and Germany. The United States, for example, is currently tracking exactly where Italy was about 10 days ago. France and Germany, which track two to five days ahead of the United States, are now revving up measures akin to those taken by Italy, including lockdowns on movement and social activity. In a matter of days, the United States will follow suit. 
If you live alone, have no family members or close friends who require your special attention, and have no alternative living space, you have no decision to make. You are where you will be for coming weeks.
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It’s also important to prepare psychologically. Every family or couple has its issues, and tensions can amplify during long confinement. Common sense can ease the shared suffering. 
If children are undergoing remote schooling, and parents are simultaneously working remotely, everybody needs headphones, plenty of computer bandwidth, and a designated workspace. Before stores close, make sure every user has proper cables, headphones, batteries, adapters, and other tools of the computer trade. 
Printers, if they will be used, require paper and ink: Have plenty on hand. 
Everybody needs routines, including exercise and recreation. Shared burdens of cooking and cleaning should be offset by shared play and fun. 
Boredom and stress can suck the lifeblood out of a person. Before your home goes on lockdown, make sure your download accounts for movies and television are paid. There are plenty of good books around the house, and games and decks of cards are handy.  

11 comments:

  1. Timely post, Mound.

    I'll take this as an opportunity to both contribute to the list of reading suggestions and to shamelessly promote my new book.

    Some may have noticed I changed my avatar pic to show the cover of my recently self-published book.

    Heaven Scent Hunter : The Agarwood Adventure
    by Ron Austin
    https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07MH6V7SJ

    Dr. Alan Grace seeks a wild agarwood treasure, hidden deep in the Cambodian jungle. He has to survive the jungle, find the precious wood and then smuggle it past crooked cops. When 'Big Pharma' enlists the CIA to steal his treasure and block a natural medicine, Alan recruits a diverse band of allies to fight back.

    Available for free from Vancouver Public Library (ebook & paperback)

    $4 ebook from Amazon, Kobo etc. Paperback available from Amazon

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  2. Did/do the hoarders have it right?

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  3. No I am not ready for a lockdown and am not convinced we should be.

    https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/china/

    China has nearly 1.4 Billion people.

    https://www.google.com/search?q=population+of+china&oq=population+of+china&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l7.5530j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

    Should I be wrong then accept my fate as one of the most vulnerable; after all our generation screwed up the world more than any other!

    I have seen duck and cover, I have sat at my computer at midnight 2000/2001 awaiting the apocalypse! I survived the smog of the UK during the 1960's of which the death toll was not acknowledged for years.
    More remarkably , other than shell shock!, I have endured 44 years of marriage.

    https://www.google.com/search?q=population+of+china&oq=population+of+china&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l7.5530j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

    To add.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5Sowg26yZI


    TB

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  4. Another view; take it or leave it!

    http://viableopposition.blogspot.com/2020/03/forced-vaccinations-and-
    quarantining.html


    TB

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  5. 2018

    Tell me this is not a factor!

    https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/jan/12/subprime-timebomb-back-companies-lighting-the-fuse

    TB

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  6. Self-isolation is already Martial-law light.
    How did we get to this on a global scale, with this incredibly tight control on our lives without a commitment to accountability?
    I'm VERY frightened for me and my family.
    So far, the range of panic has been minimal, but what's going to happen when we run out of food? EVERYWHERE?

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  7. TB, you are nothing if not a survivor. 44 years!

    ReplyDelete
  8. NPoV - good plug. Yes, I noticed the avatar a while ago. Well done.

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  9. We give up certain freedoms as a cost of participating in society, TB. Our governments, for example, have the power to declare wars which extends to the power to conscript citizens, take them from their homes and families, disrupt their careers, haul them away for years and send them to fight and be killed. Vaccination doesn't sound like such a big deal to me.

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  10. The inevitable return of Casino Capitalism, TB, or just another Minsky Moment. That's what happens when you trust the financial sector to exercise restraint and prudence independent of regulators.

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  11. Anon, "accountability," remind me, what is that again? I seem to remember something along those lines in decades past - back before Thatcher, Reagan and Mulroney charted a new course for the Western world.

    ReplyDelete