Family & Home Pandemic Prepared (Coronavirus nCoV-2019, Covid-19, Wuhan Flu) ness by Lynn Jack - HTML preview

CHAPTER 2 – Shelter-in-Place or Bug-Out?

During a pandemic, you have two choices:

• Shelter-in-Place. Stay and survive in your home.
• Bug-Out. Flee to another location to survive.

Neither of these options is necessarily better than the other. Which option you choose depends on the situation. For example, in the event of a wildfire, you will need to bug out. However, in the event of a pandemic, you will most likely shelter-in-place,

Shelter-in-Place

Why would someone stay put in the face of impending pandemic disease? There are many reasons, each unique to the person or family that decides to stay put:

• As described in the rest of the book, the amount of food, water, medical supplies and equipment needed to survive for several weeks is too much to transport,
• Some do not have the health to make a journey that might entail going on foot for a distance.
• Some may consider themselves too old and feel they don’t have the energy.
• Others may decide to stay put because of the needs of an immediate family member that is already ill.
• Some may choose to take care of animals (livestock and pets) that cannot make the journey.
• Some have no transportation, and
• There are many, many other valid reasons to shelter-in- place.

For whatever the reason, the information in this book will hopefully assist the “bug-inners” in making wise choices in the face of potential danger. Specifically, items the bug-inners need are different than those than a bug-outer will carry in their pack. Ultimately, the needs of both types of prepper are the same: to be safe, be sheltered, have adequate water, and enough food to get through the disaster. It is a personal decision, but one that should not be taken lightly for the ‘inner or the ‘outer.

In the event of a pandemic, it is likely that the majority of people will choose to shelter-in-place. One of the main reasons is the length of time of the crisis. A wildfire poses immediate danger, that quickly passes. A pandemic will last weeks or months, and it is difficult to leave, unless sufficient supplies have been previously stockpiled in another location.

In fact, if the decision to shelter-in- place or bug-out may be taken from your hands and made by the government via quarantine. In a pandemic, the government has the authority to order you to stay in your home or other location. This is a quarantine order. There are two types of quarantine orders:

1. Area Orders. This type of order closes of an area, such as a town. People are not allowed to leave or enter without specific permission.
2. Individual Orders. You are personally ordered to stay in your home for a set period of time (two weeks, etc.) because you have been exposed to the disease. You may or may not be sick, but if you are considered to be contagious, you can be quarantined until you are no longer contagious.

Being prepared with enough supplies to get through the quarantine period or voluntary shelter-in-place period is vital. This will be explored in detail in the later chapters of this book.

Bug-Out

To “bug out” means to leave your home for a more secure location. It could be to a family member’s home in a smaller community, a farm, high on a mountain top, or to a piece of land that you may have purchased precisely for the purpose of “bugging out” to. Wherever it may be, it is likely not more than one tank of gas away from your current location, or a place you can reach on a bicycle or on foot. Depending upon the emergency situation of the pandemic, gas stations may be closed. You will carry on your back or in your trunk a previously stocked Bug Out Bag (BOB), which will contain enough survival supplies for at least 3 days.

Hopefully you have either pre-planned and hidden additional supplies along your route, or you get to your safe space in 3 days or less and there are supplies waiting there for you. If you have a family, EVERYONE carries their own bag, even the dog. The bag should be manageable for the person/animal carrying it and should be filled with specific items to cover most situations you may encounter along your journey.

There is much more that can be written on Bugging-Out and your BOB. However, that it is not the focus of this particular book. This book is mainly for those readers of the book that intend to shelter-in-place. Even if you bug-out, due to the length of a pandemic, you will need to shelter in place at your destination. Therefore, the remainder of this book will focus on the needs of those who are sheltering in place should a pandemic disease appear in their area. For a slightly more in-depth discussion on bugging out, see Appendix A.