A Pandemic Could Require Three Years Worth of Preps

One of the nation's foremost epidemiologists is Dr. Michael T. Osterholm, Director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, Associate Director of the Department of Homeland Security's National Center for Food Protection and Defense, and Professor at the University of Minnesota's School of Public Health.

He has for years been leading the battle for public awareness of the imminent pandemic.

Dr. Osterholm has many times been quoted as saying that a pandemic could result in a collapse of the global economy and absolutely devastate our modern way of life. He estimates one to three years of preparations on governmental and organizational levels will be required to weather the storm. His learned warnings are quoted on media sites everywhere and one need only search "Osterholm, pandemic" to quickly amass more than enough insight into the situation the world is faced with.

"Preparing for the Next Pandemic" is one recent essay of his that is a particularly insightful look at how things could suddenly go south around the globe ...

Executive Summary: If an influenza pandemic struck today, borders would close, the global economy would shut down, international vaccine supplies and health-care systems would be overwhelmed, and panic would reign. To limit the fallout, the industrialized world must create a detailed response strategy involving the public and private sectors.

For the complete eye-opening essay by Dr. Osterholm, see it here, published late this summer in Foreign Affairs.

Do It Now

Needless to say, households are as needy for such preparedness levels as organizations, if not more so.

Please consider the immediate need to assess your family's ability to survive a collapse of "the system" --a collapse that could very well be of unimaginable historical proportions. The world is suddenly sitting up and taking notice--you need to do the same.

Three initial, main steps you need to take, among many others that should follow:

1. Acquire some Tamiflu for your family--find an online source now and pay the money. It will soon not be available at any price. Also, stock up on Sambucol. These represent our best bets at this point to survive an H5N1 pandemic.

2. Have on hand enough stored food (and the ability to provide your family with drinking water) to be able to survive at least a year. According to Dr. Osterholm, THREE years might be the prudent baseline. Here is an excellent Food Storage Calculator that can help you assess what you need to sustain your household for up to 36 months (Thank you to "Doctor Fungcool" for the link).

3. Give some long, serious thought to whatever other specifics your family would need to endure three years of what might be something akin to isolation at best, and at worst, basic subsistence in a world much more dangerous and unstructured than it is now.

This is not about losing one's sense of balance. Quite the opposite. This is right now an opportunity to take advantage of a loud warning we are being given, though it is still somewhat muted due to the need to prevent widespread chaos and panic. The time WILL come when anarchy becomes the rule, if this pandemic comes calling. Your goal should be to avoid that mess by doing the necessary legwork right now.