#MicroblogMondays: Being prepared

Both Bamberlamb and Mali recently posted about their support networks (or lack thereof), particularly vis-a-vis covid.  Mali is (sadly) facing the spread of Omicron in New Zealand, which has not yet been affected by the pandemic to the same extent that some countries have. 

Think about it: who would be able to help you out with groceries, etc., should you be confined to your house because of covid? Those of us who are childless probably have reason to ponder these questions more than parents:  we lack the robust social networks they develop through their children's schools, activities and neighbourhood friends, and we may not have any extended family members living close by either. (Being closer to family was, of course, a key reason why dh & I moved here, almost -- gulp! -- six years ago now.)  

Commenters from the northern hemisphere, where we've been dealing with this beast for a full two years now (ugh!), chimed in with advice for Mali -- about the willingness of neighbours to help when asked; about the proliferation of delivery services available; tips about choosing, wearing and storing masks; and lists of items that can be stockpiled in advance. 

I added a few pieces of my own advice. Just before things started locking down here in March 2020, I read an article advising people to stock up on the things you would normally want to have on hand in case you came down with a cold or flu.  I already had a lot of these things on hand anyway (e.g., a thermometer) -- but I took the opportunity to check what supplies I had, and to stock up on some bottles of Motrin (ibuprofen/Advil) and Tylenol (acetominophen), as well as packages of cold pills and throat lozenges, bottles of saline nasal spray and cough syrup, etc. (Another good item to have on hand in case of covid, which I have yet to purchase: a pulse oximeter, which checks the levels of oxygen in your blood, simply by putting a clothespin-type sensor on your finger.  If your levels start dipping into the low 90s, you know it's time to head to the hospital.) 

I recently saw another similar article, which prompted me to check out my stockpile again.  Would you believe a lot of the things I'd purchased in March 2020 have already expired/gone past their "best before" dates, or are close to it?  I was at the drugstore last week to pick up some prescriptions, and since I was there, I took the opportunity to replace those items. 

In her post, Bamberlamb mentioned buying and stocking an extra freezer with staples, which came in handy when both she & her husband came down with covid last year -- also an excellent idea, I thought. Unfortunately, dh & I don't have room in our condo for an extra appliance, and one of the few things I dislike about our unit is that the freezer compartment/drawer in the refrigerator (left by the previous owners) is not that big. Likewise, while we have a decent amount of cupboard space for a condo (probably the most of any condo unit we looked at before we bought), there’s not as much room to stockpile extras as there was at our old house (we had shelves below the basement stairs where I’d keep extra canned goods, paper goods like toilet paper, paper towels and kleenex, lightbulbs, etc.) -- and as my mother and both grandmothers did before me.   

But although our storage space is limited, there's still room enough in both freezer/fridge and cupboards to stockpile enough food to last us for at least a week.  Dh was never one for keeping a lot of extras around -- especially since our old house was, conveniently, a short walk away from both a supermarket and a drugstore — but since that initial run on toilet paper and other groceries at the start of the pandemic, he’s seen the wisdom in it! (I know some people in our building store a lot of canned and paper goods in their storage lockers downstairs.)  

How about you? Do you have a social network you could rely on if you got sick and had to isolate?  Do you like to keep a stockpile of "just in case" essentials? Has covid changed your outlook on this? 

You can find more of this week's #MicroblogMondays posts here.