A few days ago, we explained how to purchase postage while under lockdown without leaving your home. It occurred to us that you might need something to mail. Despite the availability of instant communications, there’s still something about receiving a physical card or letter in the mail that can’t be replaced.

Chances are, you have some paper and envelopes around the house somewhere, and your distant loved ones will enjoy receiving a note, even if it’s scribbled on a piece of scrap paper. But for some occasions, it’s customary to send a greeting card.

If you can’t get to the store, you can still keep a supply of assorted greeting cards on hand. You can find one assortment at Amazon at this link, and others by searching this link.  Then, whenever an occasion arises, you can shop from your own collection rather than having to go to the store to buy a card.

And if you now have a song stuck in your head, here it is:

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As I write this from the safety of my home, millions of workers are literally risking their lives to serve their country. The obvious ones include healthcare workers, police officers, firefighters, paramedics, and National Guard members. But just as important are the bus drivers, postal workers, delivery drivers, truckers, grocery store workers, warehouse workers, factory workers, and countless others who are making sure that the public has access to the goods and services needed to sustain life. They are risking infection to serve us, and they deserve our respect and our thanks.

Others, like my wife, a medical interpreter, are able to provide needed services from the safety of their own homes.

And then, there are a lot of people like me, who don’t have any vital services to perform. Many are wondering what they can do to help, and there are a number of opportunities.

My wife and daughter have been busy making surgical masks such as the ones shown above.  They are made according to instructions posted online by one of our local hospital systems (see below).  One of our neighbors supplied some of the materials, picked up the finished masks outside our door, and delivered them to the hospital, where they are being picked up curbside at a designated location.  These masks will be used in less critical situations by staff and patients in order to conserve the N-95 masks that are in dangerously short supply.

I know at least two friends with 3D printers who are making other needed products, such as

Face shields being 3D printed. Courtesy Don Seiford.

face guards.  American factories can’t meet the demand for these lifesaving supplies.  But the millions of Americans who own equipment such as sewing machines and 3D printers can help meet the need until American industry ramps up its production.

Virtually all health care facilities are in need of supplies.  Many will have their own particular requirements, so it’s probably best to contact them first (checking their website first is probably best, so that staff doesn’t have to spend valuable time answering the phone).

Check neighborhood social media sites, such as neighborhood pages on Facebook or NextDoor.  Chances are, some of your neighbors are already working on needed items.  Coordinate with them to share materials.  In addition to hospitals and clinics, items are needed by dentists, nursing homes, assisted living facilities, home health care agencies, and probably many others.  Some of these institutions are non-profit, and some are for profit.  But it doesn’t matter.  They need supplies, and they can’t get them.  They are counting on you.  If you honestly can’t find anyone who needs them, then send me an e-mail, I’ll give you my mailing address.  You can make the masks shown below, send them to me by U.S. Mail, and I’ll make sure they get to a hospital in my area.  But chances are, the need is just as acute in your area.

Do not have direct contact with people outside your own household.  Do not go to a store to buy supplies.  Use the materials that you have at home, or that can be safely delivered by neighbors leaving outside the door.  The idea is to be of service, and you will be of no help if you get infected or infect someone else.  Be part of the solution, and not part of the problem.

Here are some opportunities for you to serve:

1.  Making Surgical Masks

If you have a sewing machine and know how to use it, your skills are desperately needed.  My wife and daughter are making the style shown above, which are destined for Blue Cross Blue Shield and Allina.  More information and complete patterns and instructions can be found at this link:  https://blog.bluecrossmn.com/covid19masks/

North Memorial Hospital in Minneapolis has a different pattern, which you can find at this link:  https://northmemorial.com/covid-19-donations/  North Memorial also has a mailing address shown on this site.  So in the unlikely event that you can’t find someone locally to take the masks, you can mail them.  Do not go inside the post office to mail anything.  You can buy postage online and leave the item for your letter carrier.

Update:  The following website allows you to search by zip code for facilities in your area that need masks and other supplies.  In the unlikely event that you don’t find anyone locally, it also lists facilities that you can mail them to:

https://www.donategoodstuff.org/covid-19-crisis-how-you-can-help.html

The Facebook group mentioned below also contains patterns for an isolation gown.  I don’t know of particular hospitals that are requesting these, but there’s apparently a need.

2.  Help Sewers and/or Donate Materials

Even if you don’t know how to use a sewing machine, others in your neighborhood probably do, and they are probably working.  They also need unskilled help from people like me to cut the fabric to the correct size.  Also, if your household, like many, has a stash of old sewing supplies, it’s very likely that your neighbors need these items to make masks.   A critical shortage in our neighborhood was the elastic.   If you have some in that box of old sewing and crafting supplies, your neighbors probably need it.  The other need is new 100% cotton fabric.

3.  3D Printing

I know that persons with 3D printers and similar equipment are using them to make face shields and other needed medical supplies.

If you are able to help, a Facebook group named “Open Source COVID19 Medical Supplies” has formed and is coordinating these efforts.  I’m aware of the face shield plans at this link:
https://3dverkstan.se/protective-visor/

Prusa Research has the following information regarding face shields at its Facebook page:

4.  Lending Your RV

If you’re an RV’er, it will probably be a while before you’re able to go camping.  Consider lending it to a medical professional who needs to be isolated from their family.  This is being coordinated at this Facebook group:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/rvs4mds/

The State of Minnesota is now under a “stay at home” order, and many other areas now have similar restrictions. Non-essential businesses, especially ones which require close personal contact, are closed. And even if they were open, I wouldn’t want to see a barber right now. The close contact would make it likely that they would infect me, even if asymptomatic, or that I would infect them.

Unfortunately, for about a month before the lockdown, I kept thinking to myself that I really needed to get a haircut. I’m a procrastinator, and I never got around to it until it was too late.

Fortunately, I had at home one of the handy gadgets shown above, the Conair hair trimmer. I don’t do as good a job as a professional, but I can keep my hair from getting out of control. I suppose if I were desperate, I could just get out a pair of scissors and give myself a bowl cut. But the trimmer shown above does a much more subtle job. It comes with instructions, but you basically just comb it through the part of your hair that you want to trim.  I’ve found that it works best to do it gradually, by cutting my hair a little bit each day.  Fortunately, they’re readily available, and you can add one to your next Amazon order for just a few dollars.

Update:  If the model shown above is out of stock, the one shown below appears to be very similar.  It doesn’t look like it’s made quite as well as mine, but should do the job.  A number of the reviews say that it isn’t sharp enough, but it also looks like it takes standard safety razor blades (the old-fashioned kind), also shown below.  Fortunately, those blades are dirt cheap, and I would recommend ordering some of them as well.  In fact, you’ll have plenty of extra razor blades, so you might want to try using one to make a foxhole radio.

Due to the coronavirus, some items are unavailable in stores. If there are sick people in your house, it might become important to clean and sanitize more than usual. One convenient method is a product such as Clorox Wipes or Lysol Wipes. However, availability is currently very limited.

One excellent alternative for sanitizing is normal household bleach. The CDC offers guidance on their website.   All of the stores I’ve been to in the last few days have had bleach, although there were gaps in the shelf.   You probably already have a gallon of bleach on hand for normal laundry needs.  If you don’t (or the bottle is getting low), I would recommend adding this to your shopping list.

The first caution is never to mix bleach with ammonia or other cleaners, as deadly fumes can result.

To sanitize surfaces, the CDC recommends one cup of bleach for 5 gallons of water. For smaller jobs, the recipe can be scaled down. For example, for a gallon of water, you would add 1/5 cup bleach. For a quart, you would use 1/20 cup, which is 2-1/2 teaspoons.

The agency recommends cleaning the surface with soap and water, rinsing, and then sanitizing with the bleach solution. Allow the surface to air dry. Try not to breathe in fumes, and keep windows and doors open.

While it’s unlikely that it will be necessary due to the coronavirus, for other emergencies, it’s good to remember that bleach can also be used to disinfect drinking water.  The EPA provides instructions on their website.  Generally, very small amounts of bleach are used, approximately 8 drops per gallon.  The Clorox website also has instructions for sanitizing drinking water with bleach.

Other Posts Regarding Coronavirus

• Oral rehydration solutions for emergency preparedness
• Preparing for coronavirus: shopping
• Other emergency preparedness posts

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Wikipedia photo. Nick.mon / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0).

The photograph above was taken on February 26, 2020, at a supermarket in Bergamo, Italy. As you can see, the shelves are almost bare. As of this writing (March 5), according to news reports, Italy has confirmed 3800 coronavirus infections, and 148 persons have died. Institutions such as schools have been closed.

Where the sanitizing wipes were supposed to be today.

It’s quite possible that the epidemic will affect commerce in North America just as it has in Italy. Since more and more cases are being reported in the U.S., it seems quite possible that store shelves will have similar shortages within a few days. This afternoon, I visited a local Walmart. There was no “panic buying,” but many items were out of stock. At this point, the missing items were mostly preparations specific to a pandemic. There was no hand sanitizer, or sanitizing wipes. There was no isopropyl alcohol. There was still bleach available, but the shelves were starting to become empty.

The only “prep” item I bought today was a gallon of bleach. The CDC has instructions
for using household bleach for cleaning and sanitizing, and even if other cleaning products are not available, a gallon of bleach should be enough for thousands of uses. If your big box store is out of it, I bought mine at Dollar Tree. People are buying it, but if you look around, plenty should be available.

As of today, there weren’t any shortages comparable to those in Italy.  However, I did notice that many grocery items seemed to have minimal stocks.  In the soda aisle, for example, some brands and flavors were missing.  The bottled water aisle seemed to have the most obvious shortages.  Personally, I don’t see much need to buy water, since there’s no reason to believe that the tap water will stop working.  But I guess if you normally drink bottled water, you might go on the assumption that it will be unavailable, at least temporarily, within a few days.

I think the moral of the story is that the time is now to stock up your normal groceries, and to do it as soon as possible.  We published the following list previously as a recommended shopping list for hurricanes.  For a pandemic, you have much more flexibility, since your normal refrigerator and stove will continue to function normally.  These are, of course, just suggestions.  The following links are to Walmart.com.  If you want to save time, you can order online, and then pick up your order at the store.

• Ready to Eat Food:
  • Bottled water
  • Cereal
  • Canned fruit
  • Canned juice
  • Canned soup
  • Spam
  • Canned pasta
  • Canned beans
  • Peanut Butter
  • Jam
  • Crackers
  • Nuts
  • Granola bars
• Food Requiring Minimal Preparation
  • Rice
  • Dry soup mix
  • Pasta
  • Oatmeal
  • Powdered milk
• For Rehydration (See this page for more information):
  • Pedialyte
  • Gatorade
  • Sugar
  • Salt
  • Baking Soda
  • Morton Lite Salt
• Supplies:
  • First aid kit
  • Bleach
  • Toilet paper
  • Moist towelettes
  • Garbage bags
  • Dish soap
  • Aluminum foil
  • Paper towels
  • Paper plates
  • Paper cups
  • Plastic utensils

Click here for homemade electrolyte solution information.

As the coronavirus continues to make the news, we’ll be offering some posts with advice for preparing. As with any potential emergency, there are common-sense preparations that one can make, such as making sure that your family has an adequate supply of food and other items, in case supplies are interrupted or you are unable to leave your home.

Note: Please keep in mind that I’m not a doctor. I’m a lawyer. Just as you wouldn’t take legal advice from a doctor, you probably shouldn’t take medical advice from a lawyer. So please do your due diligence, and take medicine only upon medical advice.   But you can’t take medicine if it’s not available. My main focus is giving advice to make sure you have medicine available in the first place.

Basic Preparations:  Food and Medicine

For pandemic preparedness, the Department of Homeland Security’s ready.gov website recommends that you store a two week supply of water and food. (You can find food storage pointers at many earlier posts, many of which are linked here.)  The site also stresses that you should make sure you have a continuous supply of any prescription drugs you are taking. This seems especially critical in the case of the corona virus. According to news reports, about 90% of the active ingredients used by U.S. drug manufacturers originate in China. It seems quite possible that supply chains will be disrupted. If you take any prescription medications, it’s best to get refills as soon as possible, so that you always have a supply on hand. If the pharmacy can’t fill your prescription, it won’t be an emergency if you have a month’s supply at home. But if the pharmacy can’t get your medicine, and you just took the last pill, this could turn into a serious emergency.

Unfortunately, some insurers won’t pay for the refill until you’ve almost run out. If that’s the case, you might consider simply paying cash for an extra refill. But whatever you do, don’t just walk into the pharmacy and say that you’ll be paying cash. That could be a mistake that costs you hundreds of dollars. In this post and this post, I have suggestions that will dramatically reduce the cost of your prescription. You’ll save so much that you’ll be angry that the pharmacy was willing to charge so much in the first place.  In fact, in some cases, you might wind up paying a cash price that is less than your insurance co-pay.

Ready.gov also recommends making sure you have adequate supplies of nonprescription drugs and other health supplies, “including pain relievers, stomach remedies, cough and cold medicines, fluids with electrolytes, and vitamins.”

Oral Rehydration Solutions

By “fluids with electrolytes,” they mean oral rehydration solutions, the most familiar brand name of which being Pedialyte. If you are dehydrated by a condition such as diarrhea, this could be a lifesaving item to have on hand.

Unfortunately, this could be expensive to stock up in advance. However, with some foresight, you can do this economically. The simplest way to plan for possible dehydration is to stock up is to buy some Pedialyte or generic equivalent. It’s probably less expensive to buy it in powdered form. One replacement, albeit probably not as good medically, is a sport drink such as Gatorade. It is available ready to drink, or as a powder. (I have noticed that Dollar Tree sells small containers of a generic equivalent of Pedialyte, and at $1, these are quite economical for stocking up.)

Preparing to Make Homemade Rehydration Solution

As a last resort, you can make an oral rehydration solution at home. There are a number of recipes available, including from reputable sources such as the World Health Organization.

In most cases, you can make an acceptable oral rehydration solution with items that you normally have at home, such as sugar, table salt, and sodium bicarbonate (baking soda). If this is all you have, then this is certainly better than nothing. Many recipes, however, also call for potassium chloride. For example,  this recipe from physician Dr. Kara Fitzgerald, adapted from the WHO formula. includes potassium chloride. This is probably something you don’t have in your kitchen. However, the good news is that it’s readily obtainable prior to the disaster, and you can get enough to last a lifetime for just a few dollars. You can buy it at the grocery store in the form of “Morton Lite Salt.” This product is half regular salt (sodium chloride) and half potassium chloride. Since sodium chloride is also part of the recipe, this can be used. Dr. Fitzgerald, gives the following recipe, to be added to four cups of water: 1/4 tsp. table salt, 3/4 tsp. baking soda, and 1/4 tsp. Morton Lite salt.  For flavoring, you can add some Crystal Light or Sugar Free Kool-Aid.

Another alternative is Morton Salt Substitute, which is 100% potassium chloride. If your recipe calls for 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of potassium chloride, then you would use a full teaspoon of Morton Light Salt. On the other hand, you could also use a half teaspoon of regular salt and a half teaspoon of Morton Salt Substitute. The only difference is that the Morton Salt Substitute appears to be slightly more expensive.

Since the Lite Salt is so cheap (it’s probably about $2 at your supermarket), it seems to me that it’s cheap insurance. Since the only reason we would ever use it is for an emergency rehydration solution, I wrote the recipe and taped it to the container. We always have the other ingredients on hand, and it’s good to know that we have a method to produce a lifesaving medicine, if the need ever arises.

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