# Off Grid senerio- Pandemic



## 8301 (Nov 29, 2014)

An airborne virus that can survive up to 2 days on any hard surface that is not in direct sunlight is discovered and spreading fast. The CDC believes it is a man made pathogen that was purposely released in airports and malls in 34 locations across the US. It has 7-9 days to spread before enough people start to die to become front page news with it's 30% fatality rate and rapid spread through the population. A newly infected person is contagious within 24 hours but shows little or no symptoms for 3-4 days before rapidly declining. It's December with Christmas shopping in full force. 

All interstate commerce is stopped by the government. Because of fears of bringing it into the house most people stop going to work, even police and people at the power stations so the grid goes down within 3 weeks and there are no food deliveries to the stores. The news during the 2nd week show famous people dying on the tv, after that even the most blood thirsty newscaster are staying home, or dead. The military tries to supply food to urban areas but vandalism (no one willing to group up to form a riot) and a shortage of MREs stop food deliveries within a few weeks. Due to lack of employees water systems and sewage plants go into automatic unmonitored mode and shut down within 6 weeks. Within 2 months even critical pumping stations supplying the southwest US are out of fuel to pump water. Within 5 months with a lack of mosquito controls malaria reappears in FL, AL, MS, LA, and the eastern coast of TX. Every part of the country has it's own unique challenges with millions of elderly dying in the SW during a heat wave mid June and a February cold snap dropping temperatures as low as 8 degrees in NC and -6 in Iowa.

Because of their back up fuel supplies at many towers cell phones can still sent texts for 60 days. If you stay more than 6' from an infected person and don't touch any recently infected surface you should be ok.

1. What is your first few days plan? Shop for a few hours (assuming you have face masks and gloves) and hole up or just gather the group with zero additional supplies and pray that no one in the group is a carrier. Keep even members of the group away out of fear that they may be unknowing carriers?
2. Realistically how well are you prepared to survive 7 months until there is a vaccine and the grid starts to come back?


----------



## stowlin (Apr 25, 2016)

1. Being prepared also means situational awareness and I doubt many readers here would need to wait for front page MSM to tell them of such an issue. I believe most here would be among the first to shelter in or bug out depending on their plans. That's an easy one for me, we bug out asap, and there'd be NO last trip to a store for anything. 

2. Yes we can sustain ourselves for a year pretty easily. It's deciding where to land that is still of issue with numerous choices. My first choice would be Catalina if it managed to steer clear of the virus. If not then one of the many coastal bays in CA probably the one near Hearst castle.


----------



## sideKahr (Oct 15, 2014)

With this symtomology and virulence, you won't know who in your group may have already contracted the disease. To be safe, you must have complete isolation of each person from everyone else for the four day period until you know everyone is disease free. Then bug in, and no contact with the outside world until the epidemic burns itself out.

And that's just the beginning of your problems.

You're in a dark place today, @John Galt .


----------



## Redneck (Oct 6, 2016)

John Galt said:


> 1. What is your first few days plan? Shop for a few hours (assuming you have face masks and gloves) and hole up or just gather the group with zero additional supplies and pray that no one in the group is a carrier. Keep even members of the group away out of fear that they may be unknowing carriers?


Hunker down on the farm with everyone isolated from each other until sure of who is infected, or not. Any new additions to the group would go thru similar isolation. I have multiple structures on the farm to handle keeping folks isolated.



John Galt said:


> 2. Realistically how well are you prepared to survive 7 months until there is a vaccine and the grid starts to come back?


Rather well, with thousands of pounds of food stores, gardens, seeds, clean water, some solar, etc. I also stock lots of mosquito netting, living in the warm, wet deep south. I assume living without electricity which means sleeping on the porches when warm. I will say I have minimal mosquito issues, even with all the woods, ponds & lakes. I have multiple bat houses plus make a point to invite the barn swallows to build their mud nests wherever they choose. So all day I have the swallows patrolling & the bats all night. I rarely get bit and don't have to use spray.


----------



## rstanek (Nov 9, 2012)

I think a pandemic is the worst, right up there with a full nuclear exchange, we are 2 days cross country hike to where we would want to go, it is isolated, one would have to decide that if someone were to approach us in our shelter, I say now that I would dispatch them for fear of them being contagious, of course it's easy for me to sit here in my comfortable living room and say this, but in a real situation it would be much more mentally and emotionally challenging, I don't want to kill anyone,but I will if I have to ,to protect my family.... of course getting to our shelter is also high risk.....


----------



## Illini Warrior (Jan 24, 2015)

if a man made bio weapon is ever released - I can only hope the mortality rate is only 30% - that's more along the lines of a naturally occurring disease - aka ebola & various flu strains ..... you can eazy expect a 60-80% mortality rate with the real killers ...

major mistake alot of preppers make - not prepping for the disease spread that is second nature to conditions associated with a severe SHTF .... just another reason to limit your exposure to the refugee flow that'll be coming thru your area .... you can start seeing dysentery a week after the water taps go dry and the toilets stop flushing ....


----------



## 8301 (Nov 29, 2014)

sideKahr said:


> You're in a dark place today, @John Galt .


Not really, just trying to clarify and make people think outside the box by adding enough detail to require careful consideration in the answers.

Like the Marines say,,, "when the balloon goes up you go with what you have".


----------



## OrneryOldBat (Feb 10, 2017)

This is the scenerio I'm prepared for. Odds are good I'd be aware early due to contacts in healthcare and public health. I also monitor a few online infectious disease sites regularly. This is a favorite: https://flutrackers.com/forum/ Bonus - I don't shop from Thanksgiving to after Christmas because I loathe crowds and commercial craziness. 

We'd bug-in, seal up, only making a last trip out in appropriate protective gear if I felt I had enough info to accurately evaluate risk. We're set up for individual quarantine and to disinfect pretty much anything. Lots of of protective gear if nursing someone or outside contact was necessary.

Plenty of food on hand. Have water stored, but not 7 months worth. As long as grid is up would fill all available containers with extra water, including the water storage insert for the tub. After that... rain water catchment, trip to the creek (plenty of filters). We can handle waste storage for at least a month before needing to dig holes outside. Prepared to deal with grid down cold; heat - just have to suck it up. Not a lot of mosquito problems.

I think boredom would be our biggest problem, especially if it was important to stay stealthy. Grid up, no problem. Grid down - more stressful. Most of our recreational reading is digital and all our music. We've got battery banks and solar recharging capabilities. The devices for reading and music have long lasting batteries, unlike a laptop. A lot of board games and cards. Handcrafts and projects. Space to get out of each other's faces, if necessary.


----------



## RJAMES (Dec 23, 2016)

To monitor outbreaks and perhaps get enough warning to self isolate in time I monitor the following sites. WHO | World Health Organization Home - Pan American Health Organization https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/notices/ https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/index.html

I gave a heads up to the local Health Department I worked for that an epidemic was likely to be declared by the end of the week in Mexico as early as March 2009. The H1N1 outbreak did not make the US news until late May 2009.

Pandemics now days are just a plane ride away . You have someone become infected get on a plan and be on the other side of the world before they have the first symptoms . Since so many diseases the first 48 hours look the same with fever, cough most people with those symptoms assume it is not a big deal and travel thus exposing other travelers that could be any where in the world in less than 24 hours.

If quick enough the best thing to do in a Pandemic, naturally occurring or an attack, is to button up and isolate.


----------



## Illini Warrior (Jan 24, 2015)

OrneryOldBat said:


> This is the scenerio I'm prepared for. Odds are good I'd be aware early due to contacts in healthcare and public health. I also monitor a few online infectious disease sites regularly. This is a favorite: https://flutrackers.com/forum/ Bonus - I don't shop from Thanksgiving to after Christmas because I loathe crowds and commercial craziness.
> 
> We'd bug-in, seal up, only making a last trip out in appropriate protective gear if I felt I had enough info to accurately evaluate risk. We're set up for individual quarantine and to disinfect pretty much anything. Lots of of protective gear if nursing someone or outside contact was necessary.
> 
> ...


Flu Trackers is a good intel source to follow - here's another that covers the domestic scene well ....

PANDEMIC FLU INFORMATION FORUM :: View Forum - Main Forum


----------



## NotTooProudToHide (Nov 3, 2013)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corrupted_Blood_incident

Pretty interesting how things unfolded in the virtual world when a plague was introduced.



> The epidemic began on September 13, 2005, when Blizzard introduced a new raid called Zul'Gurub into the game as part of a new update. Its end boss, Hakkar, could affect players by using a debuff called Corrupted Blood, a disease that damages players over time; this one specifically doing significant damage. The disease could be passed on between any nearby characters, and would kill characters with lower levels in a few seconds, while higher level characters could keep themselves alive. It would disappear as time passed or when the character died. Due to a programming error, players' pets and minions carried the disease out of the raid.
> 
> Non-player characters could contract the disease but were asymptomatic to it and could spread it to others.[1] At least three of the game's servers were affected. The difficulty in killing Hakkar may have limited the spread of the disease. Discussion forum posters described seeing hundreds of bodies lying in the streets of the towns and cities. Deaths in World of Warcraft are not permanent, as characters are resurrected shortly afterward.[2] However, dying in such a way is disadvantageous to the player's character and incurs inconvenience.[3]
> 
> ...


Whats really interesting is that official organizations used this as a model for potential pandemic outbreaks as well as terror attacks.


----------



## SierraGhost (Feb 14, 2017)

My first desire would be to have the clan get back to the homestead. "All interstate commerce is stopped by the government." Since only commerce is halted, half live close enough to be here in a couple hours. The others are a day or two away and depending on availability of petrol, may or not make it back to the flagpole. 

Once here, they can be isolated for the appropriate amount of time to rule out infection. If any were infected, it would be heart wrenching to watch them die. Those not infected would be ok due to backup power and a stocked larder. The downside is that due to my employment, I would probably be required to stay at work until the pandemic passes. If none were able to return and I had to hot-bunk at work, the constant wondering about them as well as the state of the homestead in my absence, would suck.


----------



## 8301 (Nov 29, 2014)

SierraGhost said:


> . The downside is that due to my employment, I would probably be required to stay at work until the pandemic passes. If none were able to return and I had to hot-bunk at work, the constant wondering about them as well as the state of the homestead in my absence, would suck.


But at what point do you say "screw the job" and put the family first.


----------



## Maine-Marine (Mar 7, 2014)

well..the people that only prep for short term natural disaster are screwed...


----------



## SierraGhost (Feb 14, 2017)

John Galt said:


> But at what point do you say "screw the job" and put the family first.


Provocative question. While I understand the sentiment, I took an oath. I don't foresee the doors being closed.


----------



## Illini Warrior (Jan 24, 2015)

John Galt said:


> But at what point do you say "screw the job" and put the family first.


for some people in occupations like medical - it won't be that simple - the med facilities will be locked down - in and OUT - unless you see the outbreak going nuclear and get out early - there's no quitting allowed ...


----------

